Acute stress and working memory in older people

Abstract

Several studies have shown that acute stress affects working memory (WM) in young adults, but the effect in older people is understudied. As observed in other types of memory, older people may be less sensitive to acute effects of stress on WM. We performed two independent studies with healthy older men and women (from 55 to 77 years old) to investigate the effects of acute stress (Trier Social Stress Test; TSST) and cortisol on WM. In study 1 (n = 63), after the TSST women (but not men) improved their performance on Digit Span Forward (a measure of the memory span component of WM) but not on Digit Span Backward (a measure of both memory span and the executive component of WM). Furthermore, in women, cortisol levels at the moment of memory testing showed a positive association with the memory span component of WM before and after the TSST, and with the executive component of WM only before the stress task. In study 2 (n = 76), although participants showed a cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) response to the TSST, stress did not affect performance on Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS; a task that places a high demand on the executive component of WM). Cortisol and sAA were not associated with WM. The results indicate that circulating cortisol levels at the moment of memory testing, and not the stress response, affect memory span in older women, and that stress and the increase in cortisol levels after stress do not affect the executive component of WM in older men and women. This study provides further evidence that older people may be less sensitive to stress and stress-induced cortisol response effects on memory processes.

The Trier Social Stress Test: Principles and practice

“…In contrast, only young men had picture recall impaired by the TSST ( Hidalgo et al., 2015 ). In healthy older participants, the TSST improved working memory performance in women but not men, and for digit span forward but not digit span backward, suggesting a specific effect on memory span but not the executive component of working memory ( Pulopulos et al., 2015 ). Of course, stress has a multifaceted impact on cognition.…”

The relationship between cortisol and cognitive function in healthy older people: The moderating role of Apolipoprotein E polymorphism

“…Glucocorticoid receptors are widely distributed in the hippocampus and in the prefrontal cortex, which are involved in declarative memory and attention and executive function, respectively (Lupien et al, 1999). Whereas some studies found that lower cortisol levels were related to worse attentional performance (Pulopulos et al, 2015;Vedhara et al, 2000), other studies reported an association between higher cortisol levels and worse attention and processing speed (Beluche et al, 2010;Fonda, Bertrand, O'Donnell, Longcope, &McKinlay, 2005;Franz et al, 2011;Lee et al, 2007;MacLullich et al, 2005). In addition, Lupien et al (1999) observed an inverted-U pattern between cortisol and working memory performance that has an attentional component (Mirsky, Anthony, Duncan, Ahearn, & Kellam, 1991) and is also mediated by prefrontal cortex functioning.…”

Effects of berberine on a rat model of chronic stress and depression via gastrointestinal tract pathology and gastrointestinal flora profile assays

“…In addition, it is characterized by a psychomotor excitement with a heightened response to fear and behavior blindness. These symptoms disappear following the removal of the stimulus (5)(6)(7)(8). By contrast, chronic stress is a response of body to long-duration, uncontrollable emotional pressure, and presentation of high blood pressure, muscle tissue damage, growth inhibition, immune system suppression and metal health damage (9)(10)(11)(12).…”