| Background:Professional divers are the technical personnel who carry out underwater construction,rescue and salvage.The diving environment is one of the most special and dangerous working environments.On the one side,complete cognitive ability is necessary for professional divers to perform diving tasks.On the other side,diving environment may also affect their cognitive ability.It is important to explore the influence and relative mechanism of diving environment exposure on professional divers’ cognitive functions so that we can provide references for psychological intervention,which is of great significance to reduce diving accidents and ensure the safety of divers.However,at present,related researches are lacking and have not reached an agreement yet.Objectives:1.To explore the cumulative effect of long-term diving environment exposure on the primary cognitive functions of professional divers,and the distribution characteristics of this effect in divers’ living environments and diving age groups;2.to explore the immediate effect of a deep diving environment exposure on the primary cognitive functions of professional divers.Methods:This study was divided into two parts.The first part is to explore the cumulative effect of long-term diving environment exposure on the primary cognitive functions of professional divers.By cluster sampling,170 professional divers were selected as the research objects,including 80 divers living on shore and 90 divers living on board.Meanwhile,75 non-divers on shore and 80 non-divers on board were selected as the control objects.In the second part,the study explored the immediate effect of single deep diving exposure on the b primary cognitive functions of professional divers.47 professional divers who performed a dive with the depth of 80 m,100m or 120 m were selected as the research objects.The test was repeated before and after diving,and 42non-divers who were selected as the control objects were tested twice between the same time intervals as the divers to clear the interference of learning effect.The processing speed,working memory,spatial cognition,episodic memory and verbal ability were evaluated by the Primary Cognitive Functions Test Battery,which was developed by the Institute of psychology,Chinese Academy of Sciences.The data were analyzed by t-test,chi square test,nonparametric test,two-way ANOVA,covariance analysis,repeated measurement ANOVA using SPSS 26.0 statistical software.In the study,rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied and the methods,conditions and standards of the measurement was strictly controlled to ensure its reliability and efficacy.Results:1.The cumulative effect of long-term diving environmental exposure on the primary cognitive functions of professional divers(1)The total average score of primary cognitive functions of professional divers was significantly lower than that of non-divers(F = 6.915,p = 0.009).In general,the average scores of five primary cognitive functions of professional divers were all lower than those of non-divers,but only working memory(F = 14.334,p < 0.001)and verbal ability(F =5.861,p = 0.016)reached significant level.(2)The two-way ANOVA showed that only in the group of those who serve for 1～5years,the average scores of processing speed(p < 0.05),working memory(p < 0.001),episodic memory(p < 0.01),spatial cognition(p < 0.05)and verbal ability(p < 0.05)of professional divers were significant lower than those of non-divers.In the group of those who serve for 6～10 years,the average score of the verbal ability(p < 0.05)of professional divers was lower than that of non-divers.In the group of those who serve for more than 10 years,the average score of the verbal ability(p < 0.05)of professional divers was lower than that of non-divers,and the episodic memory(p < 0.01)was higher than that of non-divers.(3)There was no significant difference in the average scores of all primary cognitive functions between professional divers in ship and shore environment(F = 0.012～2.906,p =0.090～0.914).(4)The two-way ANOVA showed that in the group of those who serve for 1～5 years and for 6～10 years,there was no significant difference in the average scores of all the primary cognitive functions of professional divers in ship and shore environment.In the group of those who serve for more than 10 years,the average scores of spatial cognition and verbal ability of divers in ship environment were lower than those of divers in shore environment.The spatial cognition reached a significant level(p < 0.05),while the verbal ability was close to the significant level(p = 0.083).(5)In ship environment,the average scores of all primary cognitive functions of professional divers were lower than those of non-divers,of which working memory(F =8.373,p = 0.004),spatial cognition(F = 5.612,p = 0.019)and verbal ability(?)(F = 3.882,p = 0.050)reached a significant level.In shore environment,only the average score of working memory of professional divers(F = 7.001,p = 0.009)was significantly lower than that of non-divers.2.The immediate effect of a deep diving environment exposure on the primary cognitive functions of professional divers(1)The results of covariance analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the average scores of all primary cognitive functions between the research group and the control group(F = 0.514 ～ 2.787,p = 0.099 ～ 0.475).(2)Repeated measurement ANOVA was performed with depth(80m,100 m,120m)as an inter subject variable and time(before and after diving)as an intra subject variable.The results showed that as for all primary cognitive functions,the main effect of group was not significant(F = 0.232 ～ 1.526,p = 0.300 ～ 0.794).Conclusions:1.The total average score of primary cognitive functions of professional divers was significantly different with that of non-divers.Long-term diving environment exposure will adversely affect the primary cognitive functions of professional divers.2.Long-term diving environment exposure significantly undermines the processing speed,working memory,episodic memory and spatial cognition of professional divers who serve for 1～5 years,and the effect gradually weakens with the enduring of diving service.The adverse effects of long-term diving environment exposure on the verbal ability of professional divers run through their whole career.3.The professional divers in the ship environment may also be affected by a variety of adverse factors,such as marine meteorological and hydrological environment,special cabin physical,chemical and social environment,and seasickness,which will aggravate the decline of their spatial cognition and speech ability.The influence of these adverse factors continues to accumulate,and is more obvious among the professional divers who have been diving for more than 10 years.4.In this study,the 80～120m helium oxygen non-saturation diving which needs surface decompression have no immediate effect on the primary cognitive functions of professional divers. |
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