Abstract
Despite numerous studies indicating that transient cerebral oxygen depletion has a detrimental effect on cognition, surprisingly little research has examined the possibility of cognitive enhancement following elevated oxygen levels in healthy adults. Here, we present evidence demonstrating that oxygen administration improves memory formation. Inhalation of oxygen immediately prior to learning a word list resulted in a significant increase in mean number of words recalled 10 min later, compared to subjects who inhaled oxygen immediately prior to recall or to controls who underwent no intervention. In a second experiment, the learning-test interval was increased to 24 h and, again, only pre-learning (but not pre-test) oxygen administration resulted in significant memory facilitation. In experiment 3, inhalation of oxygen prior to learning was compared to inhalation of compressed air, oxygen (but not compressed air) resulted in a significant increase in word recall 24 h later. In no experiment did oxygen have a significant effect on any mood item measured. We interpret these data as indicating that increased availability of cerebral oxygen facilitates cognition, including memory consolidation. The implications for the psychopharmacology of cognitive enhancement are considered in the context of cholinergic systems and neural metabolism.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benton D (1989) Dietary sugar hyperactivity and cognitive functioning. J Appl Nutr 41:13–22
Benton D (1990) The impact of increasing blood glucose an psychological functioning. Bio Psychol 30:13–19
Benton D, Owens DS (1993a) Blood glucose and human memory. Psychopharmacology 1:1–6
Benton D, Owens DS (1993b) Is raised blood glucose associated with the relief of tension? J Psychosom Res 37:1–13
Benton D, Owens DS, Parker PY (1994) Blood glucose influences memory and attention in young adults. Neuropsychologica 32:595–607
Crowley JS, Wesenten N, Kamimori G, Devine J (1992) Effect of high terrestrial altitude and supplemental oxygen on human performance and mood. Aviat Space Environ Med 63:696–701
Davis SM, Ackerman RJ, Correia NM, Alpert J, Terrono F, Buonanno F, Chang JY, Rosner B, Taveras JM (1981) Cerebral blood flow and reactivity in stroke-age normal controls. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1[suppl. 1]:547–548
Delatorre JC, Fortin T, Park GAS, Pappas BA, Richard MT (1993) Brain, blood-flow restoration rescues chronically damaged rat CA1 neurons. Brain Res 623:6–15
Durkin TP, Messier C, de Boer P, Westerink BHC (1992) Raised blood glucose levels enhance scopolamine-induced acetylcholine overflow from the hippocampus: an in vivo microdialysis study in the rat. Behav Brain Res 49:181–188
Edwards AE Hart GM (1974) Hyperbaric oxygenation and the cognitive function of the aged. J Am Geriatri Soc 22:376–379
Ferszt R, Cervos-Navarro J (1983) Cerebrovascular pathologyaging and brain failure. Aging 21:133–152
Graf P, Shimamura AP, Squire LR (1985) Priming across modalities and priming across category levels: extending the domain of preserved function in amnesia. J Exp Psych [Learn Mem Cognit] 11:386–396
Kopf SR, Barratti CM (1994) Memory improving actions of glucose — involvement of a central cholinergic muscarinic mechanism. Behav Neural Biol 62:237–243
Kuwert T, Homberg V, Steinmetz H, Unverhau S, Langen KJ, Herzog H, Feinendegen LE (1993) Posthypoxic amnesia — regional cerebral glucose consumption measured by positron emission tomography. J Neurol Sci 118:10–16
Lapp JE (1981) Effects of glycemic alterations and noun imagery on the learning of paired associates. J Learn Disabil 14:35–38
Lassen NA, Ingvar DH (1980) Blood flow studies in the aging normal brain and in senile dementia. In: Amaducci L, Davinson AN, Authono P (eds) Aging of the brain and dementia. Raven Press, New York
Lorr M, McNair D (1980) Profile of mood states. Educational and Industrial Testing Service, San Diego, CA
Mass AIR, Fleckenstein W, Dejong DA, Vansantbrink H (1993) Monitoring cerbral oxygenation — experimental studies and preliminary clinical results of continuous monitoring of cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue oxygen tension. Acta Neurochirurgi S59:50–57
Melamed E, Lavy S, Bentin S, Cooper G, Rinot Y (1980) Reduction of regional cerebral blood flow during normal ageing in man. Stroke 11:31–35
Messier C, Durkin T, Mrabet O, Destrade C (1990) Memory-improving action of glucose: indirect evidence for a facilitation of hippocampal acetylcholine synthesis. Behav Brain Res 39:135–143
Naritomi H, Meyer JS, Sakai F, Yamaguchi F, Shaw TA (1979) Effects of advancing age on regional cerebral blood flow. Studies in normal subjects and subjects with risk factors for atherothrombotic stroke. Arch Neurol 36:410–416
Owens DS, Benton D (1994) The impact of raising blood glucose on reaction times. Neuropsychobiology 30:106–113
Paivio A, Yuille JC, Madigan SA (1968) Concreteness and meaningfulness values for 925 nouns. J Expl Psychol 76:1–25
Parker PY, Benton D (1995) Blood glucose levels selectively influence memory for word lists dichotically presented to the right ear. Neuropsychologica 33:843–854
Rowan JO, McAlpine CJ, Matheson MS, Patterson J (1981) CBF, vasomotor tone, and intelligence rating in nonagerians. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1 [Suppl. 1]:481–482
Sandman CA, McCanne TR, Kaiser DN, Diamond B (1982) Heart rate and cardiac phase influences on visual perception. J Comp Physiol Psych 91:189–202
Strehler BL (1983) Fundamental mechanisms of neuronal aging. In: Mamducci L, Davinson AN, Authono P (eds) Aging of the brain and dementia. Raven Press, New York, pp 75–95
Torp R, Arvin B, Le Peillet E, Chapman AG, Ottersen OP, Meldrum BS (1993) Effect of ischemia and reperfusion on the extra- and intracellular distribution of glutamate, glutamine, aspartate and GABA in the rat hippocampus, with a note on the effect of the sodium channel blocker BW1003C87. Exp Brain Res 96:365–376
Tucek S (1978) Acetylcholine synthesis in neurons. Chapman and Hall, London
Volpe BT, Hirst W (1983) The characterisation of an amnesic syndrome following hypoxic ischemic injury. Arch Neurol 40:436–440
Walker BB, Sandman CA (1979) Human visual evoked responses are related to heart rate. J Comp Physiol Psychol 93:717–729
Wood ER, Mumby DG, Pinel PJP, Phillips AG (1993) Impaired object recognition memory in rats following ischemia-induced damage to the hippocampus. Behav Neurosci 107:51–62
Yamatoto M, Takahashi K, Ohyama M, Yamaguchi T, Saitoh S, Yatsugi S, Kogure K (1993) Behavioral and histological changes after repeated brief cerebral ischemia by carotid artery occlusion in gerbils. Brain Res 608:16–20
Zola-Morgan S, Squire LR, Rempel NL, Clower RP, Amari DG (1992) Enduring memory impairments in monkeys after ischemic damage to the hippocampus. J Neurosci 12:2582–2596
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moss, M.C., Scholey, A.B. Oxygen administration enhances memory formation in healthy young adults. Psychopharmacology 124, 255–260 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246665
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246665