The influence of early life stress on the integration of emotion and working memory

Publication date: 26 February 2018
Source:Behavioural Brain Research, Volume 339
Author(s): Sophie Metz, Sabine Aust, Yan Fan, Luisa Bönke, Zjala Harki, Matti Gärtner, Malek Bajbouj, Simone Grimm
IntroductionEarly life stress (ELS) impacts emotional and cognitive competences. We aimed to investigate whether the effects of ELS on working memory (WM) performance depend on the valence of the stimuli.MethodsBetween January and October 2015, we recruited (N=31) healthy subjects with (N=15) and without (N=16) ELS experiences. Participants performed a WM-task with emotional stimuli.ResultsResults show a trend towards decreased WM accuracy in subjects with ELS experiences (p=.06) with increased WM accuracy (p=.08) and an altered pattern of BOLD responses in the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus (p<.001) and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) (p<.01) in response to negative stimuli.LimitationsThe small sample size and potential confounding factors should be considered when interpreting the results.ConclusionOur data suggests that negative valence influences cognitive performance and brain activity in subjects with ELS experiences.



http://ift.tt/2j7dc6r