Stress, Aging and Working Memory

描述（由申请人提供）：大量实证研究已经建立了过度压力与许多不利健康结果之间的联系。自从在大鼠海马体中发现皮质类固醇受体以来，人们对压力如何影响记忆以及更普遍的认知产生了相当大的兴趣。尽管大量的研究已经研究了应激反应的生理成分与认知的关系，但令人惊讶的是，关于自然发生的应激体验与认知障碍的关系的研究却很少。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，而且与年轻人相比，这些影响在老年人中可能会被放大。我们的总体目标是研究自然发生的压力、皮质醇和工作记忆功能特定方面之间的关系。我们提出了两项研究来实现这一目标。第一项研究是一个横断面多变量实验，重点关注压力和认知之间的人际关系，第二项是纵向测量-突发设计，将在广泛的时间间隔（几天到几个月）内检查压力和认知之间的人际关系的时间动态。我们的研究有以下具体目的：(1)：研究压力是否通过消耗注意力资源影响认知；(2)：通过使用多种方法测量压力（即生活事件、日常压力、主观严重程度）及其心理和生理影响，研究压力反应的哪个方面预测认知表现；(3)：验证衰老放大应激对认知影响的假说；(4)研究个体内部压力与认知是否存在耦合关系。这将涉及测试上述假设，即在人与人之间和人与人之间的分析水平上，通过在广泛的时间间隔内（从几天到几个月到几年）检查压力和认知的人与人之间的耦合。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): 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.