Hydrocortisone reduces emotional distracter interference in working memory

Oei, Nicole Y.L.; Tollenaar, Marieke S.; Spinhoven, Philip; Elzinga, Bernet M.

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.03.015

Cited by 81 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Also, the time of the day, the nature of the stressor and the memory tasks, the time spent in the laboratory before the stressor and possible interference with other tasks during the study can influence the direction of stress effects on memory. This may explain why some studies reported working memory to be decreased by stress (Elzinga and Roelofs, 2005;Luethi et al, 2008;Oei et al, 2006;Schoofs et al, 2008Schoofs et al, , 2009) whereas others observed increased function (Cornelisse et al, 2011;Duncko et al, 2009;Kuhlmann et al, 2005;Oei et al, 2009;Weerda et al, 2010). The current observations clearly indicate that when subjects are tested under conditions of MR blockadeFwhich arguably might shift the balance from MR activation toward GR activationFworking memory is impaired.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

A Randomized Trial on Mineralocorticoid Receptor Blockade in Men: Effects on Stress Responses, Selective Attention, and Memory

Cornelisse

Joëls

Smeets

2011

Neuropsychopharmacol

101

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Corticosteroids, released in high amounts after stress, exert their effects via two different receptors in the brain: glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) and mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs). GRs have a role in normalizing stress-induced effects and promoting consolidation, while MRs are thought to be important in determining the threshold for activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. We investigated the effects of MR blockade on HPA axis responses to stress and stress-induced changes in cognitive function. In a doubleblind, placebo-controlled study, 64 healthy young men received 400 mg of the MR antagonist spironolactone or placebo. After 1.5 h, they were exposed to either a Trier Social Stress Test or a non-stressful control task. Responses to stress were evaluated by hormonal, subjective, and physiological measurements. Afterwards, selective attention, working memory, and long-term memory performance were assessed. Spironolactone increased basal salivary cortisol levels as well as cortisol levels in response to stress. Furthermore, spironolactone significantly impaired selective attention, but only in the control group. The stress group receiving spironolactone showed impaired working memory performance. By contrast, long-term memory was enhanced in this group. These data support a role of MRs in the regulation of the HPA axis under basal conditions as well as in response to stress. The increased availability of cortisol after spironolactone treatment implies enhanced GR activation, which, in combination with MR blockade, presumably resulted in a decreased MR/GR activation ratio. This condition influences both selective attention and performance in various memory tasks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

A Randomized Trial on Mineralocorticoid Receptor Blockade in Men: Effects on Stress Responses, Selective Attention, and Memory

Cornelisse

Joëls

Smeets

2011

Neuropsychopharmacol

101

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“…Previous studies of corticosteroid modulation of working memory performance show rather conflicting results on this topic. Studies have reported no effects on WM performance (41,42), corticosteroid-induced improvements in both humans (43) and animals (44), as well as impairments (45) depending on concurrent sympathetic activation (31) or WM All effects are analyzed using voxel-level statistics. WM, working memory; MNI, Montreal Neurological Institute; BA, Brodmann Area; R, right; L, left.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time-dependent corticosteroid modulation of prefrontal working memory processing

Henckens

Wingen

Joëls

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

142

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Corticosteroids are potent modulators of human higher cognitive function. They are released in response to stress, and are thought to be involved in the modulation of cognitive function by inducing distinct rapid nongenomic, and slow genomic changes, affecting neural plasticity throughout the brain. However, their exact effects on the neural correlates of higher-order cognitive function as performed by the prefrontal cortex at the human brain system level remain to be elucidated. Here, we targeted these time-dependent effects of corticosteroids on prefrontal cortex processing in humans using a working memory (WM) paradigm during functional MRI scanning. Implementing a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, 72 young, healthy men received 10 mg hydrocortisone either 30 min (rapid corticosteroid effects) or 240 min (slow corticosteroid effects), or placebo before a numerical n-back task with differential load (0-to 3-back). Corticosteroids' slow effects appeared to improve working memory performance and increased neuronal activity during WM performance in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex depending on WM load, whereas no effects of corticosteroids' rapid actions were observed. Thereby, the slow actions of corticosteroids seem to facilitate adequate higher-order cognitive functioning, which may support recovery in the aftermath of stress exposure. C orticosteroids are key modulators of human cognition. They are released in response to stress as the end product of the hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary (HPA) axis, and are known to readily cross the blood-brain barrier to affect brain processing (1). Corticosteroids ensure sufficient energy supply to challenged tissues and control the excitability of neuronal networks, and are thereby thought to support and regulate the stress response (2). The hormones exert their actions upon binding of the mineralocorticoid (MR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR), abundantly expressed in the brain (3-5). Recent animal research has indicated that receptor-binding causes both immediate nongenomic effects (6) and slow, genomic effects that manifest themselves several hours after stress exposure (7,8). By these distinct mechanisms, corticosteroids seem to influence neural plasticity in a timedependent manner (9).So far, most research on modulation of cognition has focused on medial temporal lobe structures, where corticosteroids have been shown to affect neuronal excitability, synaptic plasticity, and processes of memory retrieval and consolidation (10, 11). However, moderate to high levels of receptor expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) (5) make this structure susceptible to corticosteroid modulation as well. A current working hypothesis states that corticosteroids' rapid nongenomic effects work in concert with the effects of catecholamines during the early phase of the stress response (9, 12), and thereby optimize rapid adaptive behavior by reallocating neural resources away from higher-order cognitive processing regions in the PFC to promote vigilance, instinctive beh...

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“…Interestingly, this cortisol-induced decrease in fear processing was most pronounced in participants with high self-reported trait anxiety. More recently, Oei et al (2009) found reduced interference by task-irrelevant negative pictures in a modified Sternberg working memory task after cortisol administration compared to placebo. Although both of these studies were conducted in healthy young men and did not use angry face stimuli, the pattern of results (reduced processing of task-irrelevant negative stimuli) is consistent with the present findings.…”

Section: Effects Of Cortisol On Implicit Threat Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychophysiological evidence for cortisol-induced reduction in early bias for implicit social threat in social phobia

Peer

Spinhoven

Roelofs

2010

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Hydrocortisone reduces emotional distracter interference in working memory

Cited by 81 publications

References 82 publications

A Randomized Trial on Mineralocorticoid Receptor Blockade in Men: Effects on Stress Responses, Selective Attention, and Memory

A Randomized Trial on Mineralocorticoid Receptor Blockade in Men: Effects on Stress Responses, Selective Attention, and Memory

Time-dependent corticosteroid modulation of prefrontal working memory processing

Psychophysiological evidence for cortisol-induced reduction in early bias for implicit social threat in social phobia

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