### abstract ###
we report a preliminary study that compared decisions made in an oxygen depleted environment with those made in a normoxic environment
participants were presented with a series of choices that involved either losses or gains
for each choice they were forced to choose between a sure thing and a gamble of the same expected value
for choices involving losses  participants were more risk seeking in the oxygen depleted environment  for those involving gains  no difference was found
### introduction ###
hypoxia is the result of an inadequate oxygen supply to the cells and tissues of the body
low aerial oxygen concentration is first detected by sensory receptors in the carotid body and then relayed to the hypothalamus  CITATION
the body responds to the decrease in the oxygen arterial saturation by increasing heart rate  blood pressure  ventilation  and the production of stress hormones  CITATION
such alterations are driven by the sympathetic nervous system and could reach awareness if oxygen depletion is sufficiently high
however  mild oxygen depletion is not easily detected by higher-order brain structures  CITATION
research has investigated the effects of hypoxia on human cognitive functions  CITATION
most studies focused on basic functions  such as visual perception  memory  attention  and language  CITATION
the data show that a  NUMBER  percent  reduction in the arterial blood oxygen saturation diminishes individuals' concentration capacity and muscular coordination  which impairs language production and visual perception  CITATION
a  NUMBER  percent  reduction in the arterial blood oxygen saturation diminishes memory performance and induces emotional lability and major motor impairments
with the present research we aim to investigate the effect of hypoxia on judgment and decision making
we believe that such research is worth pursuing for two reasons
first  people frequently experience mild levels of hypoxia  such as during prolonged physical exercise  underwater diving  high altitude recreational activities e g   mountaineering  paragliding  parachuting or a flight when a defect occurs to the cabin pressurization system
second  bad judgments and decisions during these activities can be fatal
although there is no direct research on the impact of hypoxia on judgment and decision making  there is research concerning the impact of its effect stress
current views on cognitive system architecture nested within dual-process approaches  CITATION  suggest that stressful conditions affect decision-making by broadening the prevalence of intuitive  automatic processes over analytic  deliberative ones
in stressful situations individuals might rely on simple rules of thumb or heuristics  rather than on analytic processes that aim to maximize subjective utility
although heuristics in certain contexts are efficient guides for routine but complex tasks  CITATION   in others they can lead to systematic biases
for example  recent research  CITATION  has shown that acute stress induced by keeping ones hand in freezing water modulates gamble decisions  partially exacerbating a bias known as the reflection effect  people's tendency to avoid risk to secure a certain gain and to seek risk to avoid a certain loss  CITATION
with the present research we investigated whether oxygen depletion also leads to an exacerbation of the reflection effect
in a laboratory setting  we compared decisions made in a mildly oxygen-depleted environment with those made in a normoxic environment
in contrast to previous studies where participants were aware of the stressor used e g   time pressure  cold water  social pressure  participants in the present study were not aware of the mild oxygen depletion
