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Stress and cortisol are known to impair memory retrieval of well-consolidated declarative material. The effects of cortisol on memory retrieval may in particular be due to glucocorticoid (GC) receptors in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Therefore, effects of stress and cortisol should be observable on both hippocampal-dependent declarative memory retrieval and PFC-dependent working memory (WM). In the present study, it was tested whether psychosocial stress would impair both WM and memory retrieval in 20 young healthy men. In addition, the association between cortisol levels and cognitive performance was assessed. It was found that stress impaired WM at high loads, but not at low loads in a Sternberg paradigm. High cortisol levels at the time of testing were associated with slow WM performance at high loads, and with impaired recall of moderately emotional, but not of highly emotional paragraphs. Furthermore, performance at high WM loads was associated with memory retrieval. These data extend previous results of pharmacological studies in finding WM impairments after acute stress at high workloads and cortisol-related retrieval impairments.

Several pathologies of the oral cavity have been associated with stress, so we investigated salivary-induced aggregation during psychological stress. In addition, salivary total protein, alpha-amylase, and secretory immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) were assessed. In this longitudinal study, 28 dental students provided unstimulated whole saliva during 10 minutes before an academic examination and subsequently 2 weeks and 6 weeks later in a nonstress situation. The effect of whole saliva on the aggregation of Streptococcus gordonii (HG 222) was determined spectrophotometrically. The results shows a significant stress-mediated increase of salivary total protein concentration, alpha-amylase activity, amylase/protein ratio, alpha-amylase output, s-IgA concentration, and s-IgA output. There was also a trend for increased total protein output, whereas salivary flow rate was unchanged. The aggregation of S. gordonii in whole saliva collected before examination was 13.1%, whereas the aggregation in whole saliva collected during nonstress was 23.3%. This reduction was statistically significant (p < .01). Furthermore, the decrease in bacterial aggregation was related to the increase in state-anxiety (p < .05). The reduction in aggregation of S. gordonii under stress was not correlated with changes in salivary flow rate, s-IgA concentration, total protein concentration, or alpha-amylase activity. These results suggest that acute psychological stress exerts its influence on both salivary composition and salivary function. Reduced bacterial aggregation may be a contributing factor in the often reported relationship between stress and impaired oral health.

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The following conclusions and/or propositions are presented: The right hemisphere produces a global, nonverbal overview of emotional information; the left hemisphere seems dedicated to analysing emotions and higher explicit emotional cognitions. Both orbitoprefrontal cortices are important in affective aspects of alexithymia, while right temporal cortex is involved in cognitive aspects. Two subparts of anterior cingulate fulfil functions in the affective and cognitive dimensions of alexithymia. The amygdalae are involved in both cognitive and affective aspects. All structures mentioned can modulate one another. The role of interhemispheric information transfer via the corpus callosum and the anterior commissure is also discussed. The evidence that that cognitive processing of emotional information inhibits affective processing of such information is discussed in terms of its implications for a theory of alexithymia subtypes.

Background: Dissociative reactions and alexithymia are two strategies that have been put forward as coping mechanisms to alleviate painful emotions. It is the clinical impression that dissociation is related to certain alexithymia features. In line with the coping hypothesis, it was predicted that the relationship between dissociative tendencies and alexithymia would be partly mediated by current levels of stress and/or by past traumatic experiences. Furthermore, dissociation may also be related to enhanced fantasizing, although alexithymia has traditionally been associated with an incapacity to fantasize. Methods: Data were obtained from 833 nonclinical participants on dissociative tendencies, alexithymia, childhood abuse, current stress and socially desirable behavior. Correlation analyses followed by multiple regression were performed. Results: Dissociative tendencies appeared to be especially related to one alexithymic feature: a difficulty in identifying feelings. This relationship was partially mediated by levels of current stress. A history of trauma did not predict dissociation measures. Furthermore, highly dissociative participants were more fantasy prone than low-dissociative participants. Conclusions: The results of this study support the idea that in a nonclinical group dissociation may provide a way to cope with current stressful events, and that this is associated with a difficulty in identifying feelings. It is argued that two types of dissociation may exist, one trait-like type of dissociation that is associated with fantasy proneness and other related factors, and a trauma-related type of dissociation that is more apparent within the clinical range.