Stress-related cortisol responsivity modulates prospective memory

Abstract

It is known that there is interindividual variation in behavioral and physiological stress reactions to the same stressor. The present study aimed at examining the impact of cortisol responsivity on performance in a complex real life-like prospective memory (PM) paradigm by a reanalysis of data published previously with the focus on the taxonomy of cognitive dimensions of PM. 21 male subjects were stressed with the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test (SECPT) before the planning of intentions. Another group of 20 males underwent a control procedure. Salivary cortisol was measured to assess the intensity of the biological stress response. Additionally, participants rated the subjective experience of stress on a 5-point rating scale. Stressed participants were post-hoc differentiated in high (n =11) and low cortisol responders (n =10). Cortisol niveau differed significantly between the two groups, but not subjective stress ratings. PM performance of low cortisol responders was stable across time, and PM performance of controls declined. High cortisol responders showed a nominally weaker PM retrieval across the early trails and significantly improved only on the last trial. The data demonstrate for the first time that participants with a low cortisol responsivity may benefit from stress exposure before the planning phase of PM. PM performance of high cortisol responders shows a more inconsistent pattern, which may be interpreted in the sense of a recency effect in PM retrieval. Alternatively, high cortisol responses may have a deteriorating effect on PM retrieval, which disappeared on the last trials of the task due to the decrease of cortisol levels across time. Importantly, our data also demonstrate that the intensity of cortisol responses do not necessarily correspond to the intensity of the mental experience of stress.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

http://ift.tt/2wLLL7m