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. 2023 Dec 20;53(4):306-312.
doi: 10.28920/dhm53.4.306-312.

Rapture of the deep: gas narcosis may impair decision-making in scuba divers

Pauliina A Ahti  1   2 , Jan Wikgren  1
Affiliations

Rapture of the deep: gas narcosis may impair decision-making in scuba divers

Pauliina A Ahti et al. Diving Hyperb Med. .

Abstract

Introduction: While gas narcosis is familiar to most divers conducting deep (> 30 metres) dives, its effects are often considered minuscule or subtle at 30 metres. However, previous studies have shown that narcosis may affect divers at depths usually considered safe from its influence, but little knowledge exists on the effects of gas narcosis on higher cognitive functions such as decision-making in relatively shallow water at 30 metres. Impaired decision-making could be a significant safety issue for a multitasking diver.

Methods: We conducted a study exploring the effects of gas narcosis on decision-making in divers breathing compressed air underwater. The divers (n = 22) were evenly divided into 5-metre and 30-metre groups. In the water, we used underwater tablets equipped with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a well-known psychological task used to evaluate impairment in decision-making.

Results: The divers at 30 metres achieved a lower score (mean 1,584.5, standard deviation 436.7) in the IGT than the divers at 5 metres (mean 2,062.5, standard deviation 584.1). Age, body mass index, gender, or the number of previous dives did not affect performance in the IGT.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that gas narcosis may affect decision-making in scuba divers at 30 metres depth. This supports previous studies showing that gas narcosis is present at relatively shallow depths and shows that it may affect higher cognitive functions.

Keywords: Cold; Deep diving; Gases; Nitrogen narcosis; Personality; Psychology; Scientific diving.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest and funding

The costs related to the data collection were covered by a grant from the Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä. The funding body had no involvement in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report, or decision to submit the article for publication. No conflicts of interest were declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The lack of relationship between the IGT score and the number of dives; due to the few extreme values in the number of dives, this parameter is shown on a logarithmic scale
Figure 2
Figure 2
Boxplot of the effects of depth on the IGT score; the horizontal line inside the box shows the median, the ends of the box show the upper and lower quartiles, and the whiskers show the highest and lowest scores
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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