Abstract
This study investigated the effects of negative air ions (NAIs) on cognitive function in young male adults, specifically examined whether NAIs could influence the behavioral and neuroelectrical indices of inhibition. Thirty-nine young adults participated in the NAI and the control sessions in a counterbalanced order. A computerized Stroop color-word test was administrated, and N2 of the event-related potential was recorded and then analyzed. The results revealed that participants in the NAI session demonstrated shorter reaction times and higher accuracy for both Stroop congruent and incongruent trials. Larger N2 amplitudes were also observed in the NAI session than in the control session, whereas no alterations in the latencies were found. These findings suggest that NAIs resulted in a general improvement in both basic information processing and inhibition. This facilitation may be related to an enhanced neuronal processing or alertness status reflected by larger amplitudes of the N2 component.
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Acknowledgments
The work was supported by academia-industry collaboration between National Taiwan Sport University and the Yueci Technology Enterprise Co., Ltd., as well as the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan and National Taiwan Normal University. The authors are indebted to Jui-Ti Nien and Tai-Fen Song for their help in conducting the experiment and collecting the EEG data.
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YKC and YMC designed the study and oversaw the data collection. CHC and YKC analyzed the data and wrote up the initial manuscript. SRC, CHW, and YCC assisted with the analysis of the data and organized the manuscript. All authors played a part in the preparation of the manuscript at each stage of its development. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Chu, CH., Chen, SR., Wu, CH. et al. The effects of negative air ions on cognitive function: an event-related potential (ERP) study. Int J Biometeorol 63, 1309–1317 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-019-01745-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-019-01745-7