Effect of formaldehyde exposure on visual and auditory choice reaction time

Reaction time study has been evaluated in many health and disease conditions. It reflects the alertness, calmness, concentration and cognitive abilities of an individual. Further study of choice reaction time for individual’s response of visual reaction time for red and green and auditory reaction time for low and high frequency sound helps in microanalysis of perception of central nervous system to wide variety of stimulus and response pattern in each of the exposed stimuli. Neurotoxic side effects such as mood fluctuations, impaired concentration abilities, memory deficit and cognitive dysfunction resulting from chronic exposure to formaldehyde fumes are well known. Our earlier study observation revealed increased auditory and visual reaction time. The above fact gave us an impetus to investigate the choice reaction time tasks for auditory and visual stimuli in those exposed to formaldehyde for duration of three to five years period. The Visual reaction time for red color was shortest and delayed for green color in the study and control groups. Similarly, the study group and control reacted faster for high frequency than low frequency sound. The student’s t test was employed to evaluate statistical significance. P value ≤ 0.05 was considered to be significant. Both visual and auditory choice reaction time was found to be delayed in study group as compared to control but this was not found to be statistically significant. Protective measures to prevent ill effects of formaldehyde exposure on human health are recommended.