Stress, Aging and Working Memory

大量的实证研究已经确定了过度压力和许多不利因素之间的联系。 健康结果。自从在大鼠海马区发现皮质类固醇受体以来， 对压力如何影响记忆，以及更广泛地说，影响认知有相当大的兴趣。虽然数量很大 许多研究已经研究了压力反应的生理成分如何与认知有关，有 令人惊讶的是，关于自然产生的压力体验如何与认知相关的研究很少 减损。最近的一些证据表明，压力不仅会影响陈述性记忆，还会影响 工作记忆和执行功能，与老年人相比，这些影响可能会放大 更年轻的成年人。我们的总体目标是研究自然产生的压力、皮质醇、 以及工作记忆功能的具体方面。为了实现这一目标，我们提出了两项研究。第一 这项研究是一项横断面多变量实验，重点是人与人之间的关系，压力 和认知，第二是纵向测量-突发设计，它将检查时间 在广泛的时间范围内，压力和认知之间的人内关系的动态变化 间隔(天到月)。我们的研究有以下具体目标：(1)考察这种压力是否 通过耗尽注意力资源来影响认知；(2)：检查应激反应的哪一个方面 通过使用多种方法测量压力(例如，日常生活事件)来预测认知表现 压力，主观严重性)及其心理和生理影响；(3)：检验假设 衰老放大了压力对认知的影响；以及(4)检查压力和认知是否 在个体内部结合起来。这将涉及测试上述针对两者之间的假设- 个人层面和个人层面的分析，通过检查压力和个人内部的耦合 对时间间隔的广泛抽样的认知，从几天到几个月再到几年不等。

A large body of empirical research has established a link between excessive stress and a number of adverse health outcomes. Since the discovery of corticosteroid receptors in the rat hippocampus there has also been considerable interest in how stress affects memory, and more generally, cognition. Although a large number of studies have examined how physiological components of the stress response relate to cognition, there is surprisingly little research on how the experience of naturally occurring stress relates to cognitive impairment. Some recent evidence suggests that stress could impact not only declarative memory, but also working memory and executive function, and that these effects may be amplified in older compared to younger adults. Our overall goal is to examine the relationship between naturally occurring stress, cortisol, and specific aspects of working memory function. We propose two studies to accomplish goal. The first study is a cross-sectional multivariate experiment focused on between-person relationships between stress and cognition and the second is longitudinal measurement-burst design that will examine the temporal dynamics of the within-person relationship between stress and cognition across a wide range of time intervals (days to months). Our research has the following Specific Aims: (1):To examine whether that stress affects cognition by depleting attentional resources; (2): To examine which aspect of the stress response predicts cognitive performance by using multiple approaches to measuring stress (i.e., life events, daily stress, subjective severity) and its psychological and physiological effects; (3): To examine the hypothesis that aging amplifies the effect of stress on cognition; and (4) To examine whether stress and cognition are coupled within individuals. This will involve testing hypotheses that the above aim at both the between- person level and the within-person level of analysis, by examining the within-person coupling of stress and cognition over a broad sampling of time intervals, ranging from days to months to years.