It is well established that acute stress produces negative effects on high level cognitive functions. However, these effects could be due to the physiological components of the stress response (among which cortisol secretion is prominent), to its psychological concomitants (the thoughts generated by the stressor) or to any combination of those. Our study shows for the first time that the typical cortisol response to stress is sufficient to impair metacognition, that is the ability to monitor one's own performance in a task. In a pharmacological protocol, we administered either 20 mg hydrocortisone or placebo to 46 male participants, and measured their subjective perception of stress, their performance in a perceptual task, and their metacognitive ability. We found that hydrocortisone selectively impaired metacognitive ability, without affecting task performance or creating a subjective state of stress. In other words, the single physiological response of stress produces a net effect on metacognition. These results inform our basic understanding of the physiological bases of metacognition. they are also relevant for applied or clinical research about situations involving stress, anxiety, depression, or simply cortisol use. The negative impact of stress on human higher-order cognition is now well documented in cognitive neuroscience 1. In particular, acute stress alters executive functions engaging the prefrontal cortex 2 , such as decision-making 3-5 , attention 6 , working memory 7-9 , learning 10,11 or cognitive flexibility 12. However, stress may affect cognition via multiple channels, which remain to be disentangled. At the physiological level, it is now well known that stress leads to a cascade of neuromodulator production, all of which impact brain functions, with a fast release of catecholamines (noradrenaline, dopamine, and then adrenaline) and a slower cortisol response very specific to stress 13,14. These endocrine changes prepare the body to "fight or flight", affecting breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, but also reducing prefrontal control, while enhancing amygdala function 2,13. Another channel must be considered though, by which stress affects cognition via psychological factors, associated with how individuals perceive the situation and how they react to it (e.g., rumination 15). Therefore, to evaluate the net effects of the biological components of stress (e.g. cortisol) on cognition, one should separate them from the psychological effects associated with the stress induction paradigm. In this study, we aim at doing so by using a pharmacological approach. Within higher order cognitive functions, we focus on metacognition. This process refers to the ability to assess one's own mental states 16 , for instance by evaluating the confidence that our own decisions are correct. Literature in this field has mainly focused on the cognitive determinants and neural bases of metacognition 17 , pointing to the key role of prefrontal cortex 18,19. Two recent studies suggest that acute stress would impact met...

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A broad line of research has conceptualized personality based on the interaction of two aspects: interpersonal relatedness and self-definition. This theoretical corpus understands these functions as two poles according to the patterns of interaction and relevance in personality. Additionally, the exacerbation of one of these poles generates a psychopathological model that identifies three types of depressive experience: anaclitic, introjective, or mixed pattern. Understanding the lack of interest as a key symptom of depression, this experiment evaluates a relation for anhedonia and the polarities model configuration using an empirical and experimental protocol. We tested 177 individuals using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) subscale for anhedonia and a visual discrimination task with a specific reward system, which was implemented to study reinforcement sensitivity. Participants were classified into four groups by the polarities of experience model. The subscale's results showed that individuals with an introjective character exhibited an enhanced anhedonic symptomatology but no co-occurrence of this evidence on the experimental protocol. These results empirically support the two polarities of the depressive personality model and raise new questions regarding how to experimentally test this relation.

Objectives: COVID-19 sanitary measures (social distancing, school closures) have deeply impacted social life, support networks, and their protective role in mental health. The present study aims to understand how attachment styles influence the way individuals experience social support. Particularly, investigating its moderating role in the relationship between social support and depression.Methods: An online survey was designed to clarify the role of adult attachment styles (ECR-S) in the perceived social support (MOSS) and self-reported depressive symptoms (BDI-SF) in the COVID-19 context.Results: Positive social interactions was the most important dimension of social support for lower depression symptoms. Individuals attachment strategies have a moderating role in the relation between of social support and depression. Crucially, insecure attachment style wanes the positive impact of social support in depression.Conclusion: Aligned with the existing literature, attachment security is an essential factor in our current understanding of relationships and mental health. Exploring specific and indivual attachment strategies might be a powerful tool to protect population’s mental healt.

The pandemic outbreak in March 2020 and its associated sanitary regulations and restrictions triggered an abrupt and significant change for society in general and for families’ organization in particular. In Chile, the Santiago Metropolitan District was under a strict lockdown that involved the closure of the entire educational system. From a systemic-family stress perspective, the impact of these changes might have consequences not only for each individual family member, but for the parental dynamic and, consequently, for children’s well-being. This paper presents the results of a follow-up study showing changes in self-reported parental depression and the perceived home organization of mothers and fathers assessed at three different moments: before the pandemic, at the initial outbreak, and after 1 month of strict lockdown. Relevant moderators were explored using linear mixed models to understand the within-subject changes in mothers’ and fathers’ self-reports across the different assessment times. Financial strain, personality traits of self-criticism and dependency, previous parent–child quality interaction, recent major stressful events, and number of children are highlighted as relevant factors that moderate changes in home chaos and parental mental health perception. Significant risks and protective factors are described for fathers and mothers. The use of pre-pandemic measures as baseline levels enabled the identification of personal and family characteristics that were related to better outcomes. The results help increase our understanding of the sanitary regulations’ impacts on the family system and identify vulnerability indicators that should be considered.