ArticleToxics2025
Visual Search Test for Residents Chronically Exposed to Methylmercury in the Minamata Area.
Article in Toxics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In individuals exposed to relatively mild methylmercury, even if they appeared to be independent in activities of daily living (ADL), slower judgment and motor responses in daily activities were observed, suggesting potential cognitive impairment. To quantitatively assess this impairment, we measured reaction time (RT) in a visual search test, as a visual cognitive ability test. The study participants included 24 residents from contaminated areas with sensory impairments in the limbs but no visual field defects (E group), as well as 12 individuals from non-contaminated areas (Group C). The 24 participants from contaminated areas were further divided into two groups: 12 without hand motor coordination disorders (Group E-HA) and 12 with such disorders (Group E+HA). Participants were instructed to search for the target letter "Z" on a computer screen, and the visual stimuli consisted of two, six, or ten alphabet letters. An equal number of trials contained "Z" and did not contain "Z," for a total of thirty trials, which were conducted twice. RT was significantly longer in Group E+HA, followed by Group E-HA, and then Group C. However, in the second test, RT decreased in all cases, with a greater reduction in the exposed groups compared to the control group. These results suggest that methylmercury exposure may cause cognitive impairment, yet it also possesses plasticity.
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