E. V. Krivonogova - Ph.D. (Biol.), Senior Research Scientist, Laboratory of Biorhythmology, The Institute of Environmental Physiology, Ural Branch, RAS, Arkhangelsk, Russia. E-mail: elena200280@mail.ru

The adaptation to Northern conditions reflected in changes in the regulatory mechanisms of the central nervous system, emotions, memory, focused attention, perception and information processing [2, 3]. Due to the fact that wide areas in high latitudes are heterogeneous in their climatic and environmental characteristics, it seems relevant to study cognitive function in young persons according to their areas of residence in the North. The aim of this study was to compare of voluntary attention parameters in young people living in different geographical latitudes of the North. Healthy young people aged 1517 years living in the Nenets Autonomous District (Arctic region, n = 50) and in the Primorsky district of Arkhangelsk oblast (Subarctic region, n = 56) were examined. Informed consent from an individuals being screened and their parents was obtained. Estimation of voluntary attention parameters by the Toulouse - Pieron test was carried out [4]: the speed and accuracy of the task performance, the stability in time and speed stability of attention. A program Statistica 6.0. for the statistical treatment of the results was used. It was established that the accuracy of the task performance in girls from Subarctic region was 0.97 (0.94; 0.98) units, which is not statistically different from the accuracy of the task performance in girls from Arctic region (0.97 (0.94;0,97) units). There was no significant differences in accuracy of test performance in boys living in the Subarctic (0.96 (0.94;0.97) units) and the Arctic regions (0.96 (0.95;0.98) units). It should be noted that no significant differences were found on the test speed in girls and boys depending on the region of residence. Comparative analysis of the stability of speed time also revealed no statistical difference in young people, depending on the region of residence. A higher stability of attention in boys livening in the Arctic region compared with boys livening in Subarctic region was revealed (p = 0,04). This pattern in girls was not observed. Thus, the difference between climate and geographic latitude and living conditions in the European North may minimally affect the process speed and accuracy of information processing in young people aged 1517. Nevertheless, the highest rate of attention stability is observed in boys livening in Arctic region, indicating that the most pronounced these persons ability to volitional efforts, emotional stability and steadiness. We can conclude that significant differences of brain activity in young people aged 1517 living in different geographical latitudes of the North [1], the minimum impact on the success of cognitive information processing and suggest different brain mechanisms of voluntary attention. The study was supported by the Presidium of the Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences № 12 U-4-1019.