Performance on a declarative memory task is better in high than low cortisol responders to psychosocial stress

Nater, Urs M.; Moor, Caroline; Okere, Ukaegbu; Stallkamp, Rolf; Martin, Mike; Ehlert, Ulrike; Kliegel, Matthias

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2007.05.006

Cited by 96 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…This sex-independent correlation between DTC and stress CORT levels indicates that the more rapidly rats had originally learned the task (less DTC), the more strongly they responded to the cat (greater CORT levels). These findings are potentially relevant to work by Nater et al (2007), who demonstrated that people who exhibited a stronger cortisol response to psychological stress exhibited better performance on a declarative memory task than those who exhibited a weak cortisol response to stress.…”

Section: Correlations Between Cort and Behaviormentioning

confidence: 69%

Acute predator stress impairs the consolidation and retrieval of hippocampus-dependent memory in male and female rats

Park¹,

Zoladz²,

Conrad³

et al. 2008

Learn. Mem.

157

105

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We have studied the effects of an acute predator stress experience on spatial learning and memory in adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. All rats were trained to learn the location of a hidden escape platform in the radial-arm water maze (RAWM), a hippocampus-dependent spatial memory task. In the control (non-stress) condition, female rats were superior to the males in the accuracy and consistency of their spatial memory performance tested over multiple days of training. In the stress condition, rats were exposed to the cat for 30 min immediately before or after learning, or before the 24-h memory test. Predator stress dramatically increased corticosterone levels in males and females, with females exhibiting greater baseline and stress-evoked responses than males. Despite these sex differences in the overall magnitudes of corticosterone levels, there were significant sex-independent correlations involving basal and stress-evoked corticosterone levels, and memory performance. Most importantly, predator stress impaired short-term memory, as well as processes involved in memory consolidation and retrieval, in male and female rats. Overall, we have found that an intense, ethologically relevant stressor produced a largely equivalent impairment of memory in male and female rats, and sex-independent corticosterone-memory correlations. These findings may provide insight into commonalities in how traumatic stress affects the brain and memory in men and women.Over a century of behavioral research has revealed a powerful influence of stress on learning and memory (James, 1890;Yerkes and Dodson 1908;Hebb 1955;McGaugh 2000). The literature in this area lacks consistency, however, with studies reporting that stress can enhance, impair, or have no effect on learning and memory (for reviews, see Conrad 2005;Diamond 2005;Lupien et al. 2005;Diamond et al. 2007). An added level of complexity in the stress-memory literature involves the influence of gender on stress-memory interactions (Shors 1998;Wolf et al. 2001;Wolf 2003;Cahill et al. 2004;Cahill 2006). Some research has indicated that stress can impair memory in men but not women (Wolf et al. 2001), but other work has shown that stress can enhance memory in women (Andreano and Cahill 2006). Stress has also been shown to produce opposite effects on the development of conditioned responses in classical conditioning in men and women. However, in contrast to the studies mentioned above, Jackson et al. (2005) reported that stress produced an enhancement of fear conditioning in men and an impairment in women. Finally, other work has demonstrated that stress or cortisol administration can impair memory in both men and women (Kirschbaum et al. 1996;de Quervain et al. 2000;Wolf et al. 2004).Studies investigating sex differences in stress-memory interactions in rodents have also produced inconsistent findings. Acute stress has been shown to impair spatial memory in male rats (Diamond et al. 1996(Diamond et al. , 19992006;Conrad et al. 2004;Sandi et al. 2005) and to enhance spatial...

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Section: Correlations Between Cort and Behaviormentioning

confidence: 69%

Acute predator stress impairs the consolidation and retrieval of hippocampus-dependent memory in male and female rats

Park¹,

Zoladz²,

Conrad³

et al. 2008

Learn. Mem.

157

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Participants in the control condition were asked to sit quietly alone for 15 min. Quiet rest served as a control condition to be consistent with past research measuring cortisol responses to a social-evaluative threat in the non-body image literature (Kirschbaum et al, 1993;Nater et al, 2007). Those in the threat condition faced the social-evaluative body image threat (see description below).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…However, visual inspection of the mean cortisol values at the response time point shows that the control group had a higher cortisol level (although not significantly) than the threat group. We used a control group to represent a non-threatening condition with respect to the body, similar to Himmelstein et al (2015; rejection but not for weight-related reasons) and to past studies examining cortisol responses to a social-evaluative nonbody image threat (Kirschbaum et al, 1993;Nater et al, 2007); however, it was not matched on body image content. Martin Ginis et al (2012) noted the difficulty in designing an equivalent control group when examining cortisol responses to body image threats.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological and Cortisol Responses to and Recovery From Exposure to a Body Image Threat

et al. 2016

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The majority of body image research has failed to measure what occurs beyond the immediate presentation of a body image threat, or after a body image threat is no longer present. This is particularly true for physiological outcomes. The present study examined psychological and cortisol responses to, and recovery from, a body composition assessment as a social-evaluative body image threat. Women ( N = 64) were randomized into either a control or threat group. Participants completed a measure of social physique anxiety and provided a sample of saliva (to assess cortisol) at baseline, and immediately following and 20 min following their condition. The threat group reported higher social physique anxiety following the threat in comparison with both baseline levels and recovery levels. Cortisol was higher immediately following the threat in comparison with baseline levels. Findings support the inclusion of a recovery time point in body image research to provide a more complete picture of the psychobiology of body image experiences.

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“…Interestingly, both of these structures express a high density of receptors for glucocorticoids (cortisol in humans), the steroid hormones that are released from the adrenal cortex in response to stress, and are highly sensitive to stress (de Kloet et al 2005;Wolf 2008). Memory functions that rely on the integrity of the hippocampus or prefrontal cortex, such as spatial or working memory, are often impaired when stress or cortisol was administered before learning (Lupien et al 1999;Schwabe et al 2007;Schoofs et al 2008; but see also Nater et al 2007 andSchwabe et al 2008a for reports of enhanced memory following prelearning stress). Moreover, stress and cortisol suppress memory-related neuroplasticity processes, such as long-term potentiation, in both the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex (Diamond et al 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At first glance, this might appear to be in conflict with previous reports suggesting that stress prior to learning influences MTL-based memory performance. However, the literature on the effects of prelearning stress is very heterogeneous with some studies showing impairing effects (Kirschbaum et al 1996;Lupien et al 1997), while others found enhancing effects (Nater et al 2007;Schwabe et al 2008a) or no effects at all (Domes et al 2002). Moreover, these studies tested participants in the same context where learning had taken place, thus, they did not take the influence of the learning/testing environment into account.…”

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confidence: 99%

Stress disrupts context-dependent memory

Schwabe¹,

Böhringer²,

Wolf³

2009

Learn. Mem.

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Memory is facilitated when the retrieval context resembles the learning context. The brain structures underlying contextual influences on memory are susceptible to stress. Whether stress interferes with context-dependent memory is still unknown. We exposed healthy adults to stress or a control procedure before they learned an object-location task in a room scented with vanilla. Memory was tested 24 h later, either in the same or in a different context (unfamiliar room without the odor). Stress administered prior to encoding abolished the context-dependent memory enhancement found in the control group. Thus, these findings represent the first demonstration of impaired context-dependent memory following stress.

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Performance on a declarative memory task is better in high than low cortisol responders to psychosocial stress

Cited by 96 publications

References 33 publications

Acute predator stress impairs the consolidation and retrieval of hippocampus-dependent memory in male and female rats

Acute predator stress impairs the consolidation and retrieval of hippocampus-dependent memory in male and female rats

Psychological and Cortisol Responses to and Recovery From Exposure to a Body Image Threat

Stress disrupts context-dependent memory

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