Working memory is differentially affected by stress in men and women
Working memory is differentially affected by stress in men and women
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DOI：
10.1016/j.bbr.2012.12.004
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发表时间：
2013-03-15
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Wolf, Oliver T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Schoofs, Daniela;Pabst, Stephan;Wolf, Oliver T.
有研究表明，压力会影响工作记忆。然而，性别差异和刺激情绪的潜在影响并没有得到太多关注。在第一个实验中，测试了压力对男性和女性参与者中性工作记忆(WM)范式的影响(实验1)。实验2采用了相同的范式，但使用了情绪刺激。为此，健康的参与者被暴露在有压力的(Trierer社会压力测试(TSST))或无压力的对照条件下。随后，评估了工作记忆在n-back任务中的表现。实验一采用个位数作为刺激，实验二采用中性图片和负性图片。分别于治疗前和治疗后3次测定唾液皮质醇和α-淀粉酶(SaA)，作为下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺(HPA)轴和交感神经系统(SNS)活动的标志。在这两个实验中，压力导致皮质醇和SaA显著增加。对于工作记忆表现(反应时间)来说，性互动带来的压力是显而易见的。压力提高了男性的表现，而削弱了女性的表现。在这两个实验中，压力对反应的准确性没有影响。没有观察到刺激的情绪质量对n-back成绩的调节作用(研究2)。结果表明，急性应激对n-back成绩的影响存在性别差异。与长时记忆不同，如果刺激是潜在的目标，应激对工作记忆的影响似乎不受所采用刺激的情绪性的调节，就像在n-back任务中一样。(C)2013爱思唯尔B.V.保留所有权利。
Stress has been shown to influence working memory. However, sex differences and the potential impact of stimulus emotionality have not received much attention. In a first experiment the effects of stress on a neutral working memory (WM) paradigm were tested in male and female participants (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 employed the same paradigm but used emotional stimuli. For this purpose, healthy participants were exposed either to a stressful (Trierer Social Stress Test (TSST)) or to a non-stressful control condition. Subsequently, WM performance in an n-back task was assessed. In Experiment 1, single digits were used as stimuli, while in Experiment 2 neutral and negative pictures were additionally employed. Salivary cortisol and Alpha-Amylase (sAA) were measured before and three times after the treatment as a marker of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis- and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. In both experiments, stress caused a substantial cortisol and sAA increase. For WM performance (response time) a stress by sex interaction was apparent. Stress enhanced performance in men, while impairing it in women. In both experiments stress had no effect on response accuracy. No modulating effect of the emotional quality of stimuli on n-back performance was observed (study 2). The results indicate that the effect of acute stress on n-back performance differs between the sexes. In contrast to long-term memory, the influence of stress on WM appears not to be modulated by the emotionality of the employed stimuli if stimuli are potential targets as it is the case in the n-back task. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.