A new study that exposed 25 people to diesel fumes in a lab at Vancouver General Hospital has found traffic pollution damages the brain's ability to reflect, retrieve memories and imagine the future.
Imagine rolling down a highway on a hot day. Windows down, you suck in a breath — only instead of an exhilarating mix of coastal air, you choke down nearly six litres of diesel fumes.
Now, a new landmark study from two of B.C.’s leading universities has found diesel fumes could be even more insidious than once thought. While contributing to a long list of physical ailments, traffic pollution could also be undermining everything from people’s performance at work to their ability to daydream.
The lab is largely focused on testing the direct health effects of diesel because the fuel produces some of the most harmful ultra-fine particles. The researchers recruited 25 healthy adults, and one at a time, sent them into the booth. For two hours, the participants surfed the internet or read a book while the researchers exposed them to both filtered air and diluted diesel exhaust comparable to air quality in Delhi, India — one of the most polluted cities in the world.
That work often leads back to the default mode network , several interconnected parts of the brain that together play an important role in memory and internal thought. When engaged, it triggers moments of introspective thought or reflection, autobiographical memories or imagined futures. When Gawryluk first looked at the fMRI scans, she remembers seeing clusters of red dots lighting up several sections of the brain — each one a visual marker that pollution was suppressing the default network.
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