Hydrocortisone reduces emotional distracter interference in working memory

PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY

卷:34

Article

Oei, Nicole Y. L.^1,2  Spinhoven, Philip^2,3  Elzinga, Bernet M.² 

[1] Leiden Univ, Inst Psychol Res, Clin Hlth & Neuropsychol Unit, NL-2300 RB Leiden, Netherlands

[2] Leiden Inst Brain & Cognit, Leiden, Netherlands

[3] Leiden Univ, Med Ctr, Dept Psychiat, NL-2300 RB Leiden, Netherlands

关键词: Hydrocortisone;    Working memory;    Inhibition;    Prefrontal cortex;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.03.015

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Several studies have shown that stress and glucocorticoids can impair prefrontal-dependent working memory (WM) performance. WM is the ability to attend to the task at hand, and to maintain relevant information in mind during a delay white ignoring irrelevant stimuli. Here, it is investigated whether stress hormones impair WM by reducing the ability to suppress distracting, irrelevant neutral and emotional stimuli. Hydrocortisone (35 mg) (n = 23) or placebo (n = 21) was administered to young, healthy men, who performed a Sternberg WM task with neutral and emotional irrelevant distracters shown in the delay-phase of the task, between encoding and recognition of the relevant stimuli for WM. Contrary to expectations, enhanced WM performance with higher processing speed and a reduction of errors was found in the hydrocortisone group compared to placebo. Moreover, hydrocortisone significantly reduced the distraction by emotional stimuli. These findings show that cortisol. effects on WM are not unambiguous and contrast with previous findings on the impairing effects of cortisol. on WM. Dose-response studies could give more insight into the specific modulating effects of glucocorticoids on suppression of irrelevant emotional distraction. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free