Effects of emotion and stress on mnemonic binding of contextual information: Brain dynamics and neural substrates

情景记忆的一个重要方面是上下文信息（如时间、地点、联想线索）的结合，这些信息构成了一个统一事件的许多不同特征，这种结合机制似乎在创伤和压力相关疾病（如急性或创伤后应激障碍或适应障碍）中受到损害。最近对健康参与者的行为研究表明，急性压力确实会损害这些情境线索与（情绪）情景记忆痕迹的整合，这表明压力激素最有可能调节记忆情境功能。计划中的项目建立在这些发现的基础上，旨在利用人脑活动的密集阵列皮层电（ERPs）和功能性血流动力学（fMRI）来研究健康志愿者长期记忆结合情境情绪和中性信息（在项目结合内和项目之间）的脑动力学和神经基础。该项目将分为两个阶段，研究a)健康参与者在编码和检索过程中情绪和中性信息上下文结合的基本神经机制（阶段1）和b)应激对上下文结合的作用（阶段2），考虑皮质类固醇作用的时间动态（快速非基因组与缓慢基因介导）和这些影响的神经机制。这个项目的结果将影响情绪、压力和记忆之间关系的研究。对事件及其与其他信息的关联的记忆在日常生活中是必不可少的，了解介导这些过程的因素是至关重要的，特别是对于临床人群而言，因为将创伤事件与适当的上下文信息联系起来的缺陷是创伤和压力源相关疾病发展和维持的重要脆弱性因素。

An important aspect of episodic memory is the binding of contextual information (e.g., time, place, associative cues) that constitutes the many disparate features of a unified event, a binding mechanism that seems to be compromised in trauma and stress-related disorders (e.g. Acute or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or Adjustment Disorders). Recent behavioral findings with healthy participants suggest that acute stress indeed impairs the integration of such contextual cues into an (emotional) episodic memory trace, indicating that stress hormones most likely mediate memory context functioning. The planned project builds upon these findings and aims to investigate brain dynamics and neural substrates of the mechanisms underlying long-term mnemonic binding of contextual emotional and neutral information (within and between item binding) in healthy volunteers using dense-array electrocortical (ERPs) and functional hemodynamic measures (fMRI) of human brain activity. The project will be divided into two phases investigating a) the basic neural mechanisms underlying context binding of emotional and neutral information during encoding and retrieval in healthy participants (Phase 1) and b) the role of stress on contextual binding (Phase 2) taking into account temporal dynamics of corticosteroid actions (rapid non-genomic vs slow gene-mediated) and the neural mechanisms underlying these effects.The outcome of this project will impact research on the relationship between emotion, stress and memory. Memory for events and for their associations with other information is essential in everyday life and knowing the factors mediating these processes is crucial particularly with regard to clinical populations, as deficits in linking the traumatic event with appropriate contextual information represents an important vulnerability factor for the development and maintenance of trauma and stressor related disorders.