Stress disrupts context-dependent memory

Schwabe, Lars; Böhringer, Andreas; Wolf, Oliver T.

doi:10.1101/lm.1257509

Cited by 78 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…Specifically, a woman’s menstrual phase and the use of oral contraceptives can affect her cortisol response to stressors (Kajantie & Phillips, 2006). Excluding female participants reduces the variability in the cortisol data and is consistent with previous stress studies that have only used male participants (Abercrombie et al, 2003; de Quervain et al, 2003; Khalili-Mahani, Dedovic, Engert, Pruessner, & Pruessner, 2010; Maheu et al, 2004, 2005; Oei et al, 2007; Pruessner et al, 2008; Schwabe, Romer, et al, 2009). While moderate acute stress during consolidation appears to be optimal for later memory performance, the effects of mild acute stress during consolidation in humans is unknown.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Another related possibility for the relatively low cortisol response is when we measured salivary cortisol levels following the MIST. Previous literature suggests that stress-induced cortisol responses are expected to be maximal 20 min after the stressor (Schwabe, Bohringer, & Wolf, 2009; Schwabe & Wolf, 2009; Schwabe et al, 2008). Thus, it is possible that we missed the maximal stress-induced cortisol response, as we took saliva samples directly after MIST completion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of mild acute stress during memory consolidation on emotional recognition memory

Corbett

Weinberg

Duarte

2017

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

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Stress during consolidation improves recognition memory performance. Generally, this memory benefit is greater for emotionally arousing stimuli than neutral stimuli. The strength of the stressor also plays a role in memory performance, with memory performance improving up to a moderate level of stress and thereafter worsening. As our daily stressors are generally minimal in strength, we chose to induce mild acute stress to determine its effect on memory performance. In the current study, we investigated if mild acute stress during consolidation improves memory performance for emotionally arousing images. To investigate this, we had participants encode highly arousing negative, minimally arousing negative, and neutral images. We induced stress using the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST) in half of the participants and a control task to the other half of the participants directly after encoding (i.e. during consolidation) and tested recognition 48 h later. We found no difference in memory performance between the stress and control group. We found a graded pattern among confidence, with responders in the stress group having the least amount of confidence in their hits and controls having the most. Across groups, we found highly arousing negative images were better remembered than minimally arousing negative or neutral images. Although stress did not affect memory accuracy, responders, as defined by cortisol reactivity, were less confident in their decisions. Our results suggest that the daily stressors humans experience, regardless of their emotional affect, do not have adverse effects on memory.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of mild acute stress during memory consolidation on emotional recognition memory

Corbett

Weinberg

Duarte

2017

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

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“…The hippocampus expresses both mineralocorticoid receptors and glucocorticoid receptors, the two receptor types that mediate glucocorticoid actions in the brain, at a very high density (de Kloet et al, 2005). Stress or glucocorticoid administration before learning reduces hippocampal long-term potentiation (Diamond et al, 2007), suppresses learning-related increases in hippocampal spine density (Diamond et al, 2006), and impairs hippocampus-dependent memory processes (McEwen, 1999;de Quervain et al, 2000de Quervain et al, , 2003Schwabe et al, 2009). Thus, we propose that stress impaired the hippocampus-dependent system and hence allowed the striatum-dependent system to control classification learning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Modulates the Engagement of Multiple Memory Systems in Classification Learning

2012

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Learning and memory are supported by anatomically and functionally distinct systems. Recent research suggests that stress may alter the contributions of multiple memory systems to learning, yet the underlying mechanism in the human brain remains completely unknown. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we asked in the present experiment whether stress may modulate the engagement of hippocampus-based "declarative" and striatum-based "procedural" memory systems during classification learning in humans and what brain mechanisms are involved in this effect. We found that stress reduced declarative knowledge about the learning task and changed the used learning strategy from a single-cue-based declarative strategy to a multicue-based procedural strategy, whereas learning performance per se remained unaffected by stress. Neuroimaging revealed that hippocampal activity correlated positively with task performance in the control condition, whereas striatal activity correlated with performance in the stress condition. After stress, hippocampal activity was reduced and even negatively correlated with learning performance. These findings show for the first time that stress alters the engagement of multiple memory systems in the human brain. Stress impaired the hippocampus-dependent system and allowed the striatum to control behavior. The shift toward "procedural" learning after stress appears to rescue task performance, whereas attempts to engage the "declarative" system disrupt performance.

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“…Furthermore, participants were monitored by a rather cold and unsociable experimenter. The SECPT has been used in several studies as an efficient stress induction method that leads to significant elevations in autonomic arousal, salivary cortisol, and subjective stress ratings Schwabe, Böhringer, & Wolf, 2009). …”

Section: Stress Protocol and Control Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Sensitizes the Brain: Increased Processing of Unpleasant Pictures after Exposure to Acute Stress

Weymar

Schwabe

Löw

et al. 2012

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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A key component of acute stress is a surge in vigilance that enables a prioritized processing of highly salient information to promote the organism's survival. In this study, we investigated the neural effects of acute stress on emotional picture processing. ERPs were measured during a deep encoding task, in which 40 male participants categorized 50 unpleasant and 50 neutral pictures according to arousal and valence. Before picture encoding, participants were subjected either to the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test (SECPT) or to a warm water control procedure. The exposure to the SECPT resulted in increased subjective and autonomic (heart rate and blood pressure) stress responses relative to the control condition. Viewing of unpleasant relative to neutral pictures evoked enhanced late positive potentials (LPPs) over centro-parietal scalp sites around 400 msec after picture onset. Prior exposure to acute stress selectively increased the LPPs for unpleasant pictures. Moreover, the LPP magnitude for unpleasant pictures following the SECPT was positively associated with incidental free recall performance 24 hr later. The present results suggest that acute stress sensitizes the brain for increased processing of cues in the environment, particularly priming the processing of unpleasant cues. This increased processing is related to later long-term memory performance.

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Stress disrupts context-dependent memory

Cited by 78 publications

References 40 publications

The effect of mild acute stress during memory consolidation on emotional recognition memory

The effect of mild acute stress during memory consolidation on emotional recognition memory

Stress Modulates the Engagement of Multiple Memory Systems in Classification Learning

Stress Sensitizes the Brain: Increased Processing of Unpleasant Pictures after Exposure to Acute Stress

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