Beta-adrenergic Modulation of Cognitive Flexibility during Stress

Abstract

Abstract& Stress-induced activation of the locus ceruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system produces significant cognitive and behavioral effects, including enhanced arousal and attention. Improvements in discrimination task performance and memory have been attributed to this stress response. In contrast, for other cognitive functions that require cognitive flexibility, increased activity of the LC-NE system may produce deleterious effects. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of pharmacological modulation of the LC-NE system on stress-induced impairments in cognitive flexibility performance in healthy individuals. Cognitive performance, plus psychological and physiological parameters for 16 adults without any history of anxiety disorders, was assessed during four test sessions: stress and no-stress, with each condition tested after administration of propranolol and placebo. The Trier Social Stress Test, a public-speaking and mental arithmetic stressor, was presented to participants for the stress sessions, whereas a similar, but nonstressful, control task (reading, counting) was utilized for the no-stress sessions. Tests of cognitive flexibility included lexical-semantic and associative problem-solving tasks (anagrams, Compound Remote Associates Test). Visuospatial memory and motor processing speed tests served as control tasks. Results indicate that (1) stress impaired performance on cognitive flexibility tasks, but not control tasks; (2) compared to placebo, cognitive flexibility improved during stress with propranolol. Therefore, psychological stress, such as public speaking, negatively impacts performance on tasks requiring cognitive flexibility in normal individuals, and this effect is reversed by beta-adrenergic antagonism. This may provide support for the hypothesis that stress-related impairments in cognitive flexibility are related to the noradrenergic system. &

Effects of the brief viewing of emotional stimuli on understanding of insight solutions

“…However, the results of the present study are consistent with those of many behavioral studies that have demonstrated facilitative effects of positive moods on insight task performance with different affect induction procedures (e.g., watching positive films, giving small gifts, listening to positive music, and generating positive thoughts; Isen et al, 1987;Rowe et al, 2007). In past studies, researchers have also reported that negative moods impair cognitive flexibility, employing different affect induction procedures (e.g., baseline negative mood states; situational stressors; Alexander et al, 2007;Beversdorf et al, 1999;Subramaniam et al, 2009). In addition, in Study 2, we found that the brief viewing of positive images induced greater activity in MPFC, whose activity is known to be enhanced by sustained positive mood states during insight tasks (Subramaniam et al, 2009).…”

“…In particular, we focused on the effects of emotional images on understanding of solutions to insight problems. In most behavioral studies on mood and cognitive flexibility, researchers have examined whether participants could solve insight tasks under certain moods (Alexander et al, 2007;Isen et al, 1987Isen et al, , 1985Rowe et al, 2007;Subramaniam et al, 2009). In contrast, ACC and adjacent MPFC are related to insight tasks such that they are activated not only when people solve insight tasks on their own (Aziz-Zadeh, Kaplan, & Iacoboni, 2009;Qiu et al, 2008), but also when they are provided with the solutions to insight tasks by other people (Luo & Niki, 2003;Luo, Niki, & Phillips, 2004;Mai, Luo, Wu, & Luo, 2004;Qiu et al, 2006).…”

Better not to deal with two tasks at the same time when stressed? Acute psychosocial stress reduces task shielding in dual-task performance

“…On a more general level, stress was found to reduce cognitive flexibility during creative-thinking and problem-solving tasks (Alexander, Hillier, Smith, Tivarus, & Beversdorf, 2007), as well as the use of negative feedback (Petzold, Plessow, Goschke, & Kirschbaum, 2010).…”

The Effect of Highly Scaffolded Versus General Instruction on Students’ Exploratory Behavior and Arousal

“…However, increases in levels of arousal generated by looking at tense pictures prior to a task were associated with a decrease in performance (Choi et al 2010). Alexander et al (2007), based on the LC activation mechanism, suggested that this difference is due to the nature of the task: performance in cognitive tasks that require attentional focus is facilitated by increased LC activation; however, tasks that require greater cognitive flexibility is impaired by the same mechanism (Alexander et al 2007).…”