Pruessner Jens C, Baldwin Mark W, Dedovic Katarina, Renwick Robert, Mahani Najmeh Khalili, Lord Catherine, Meaney Michael, Lupien Sonia
McConnell Brain Imaging Center, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Neuroimage. 2005 Dec;28(4):815-26. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.06.014. Epub 2005 Jul 14.
Self-esteem, the value we place on ourselves, has been associated with effects on health, life expectancy, and life satisfaction. Correlated with self-esteem is internal locus of control, the individual's perception of being in control of his or her outcomes. Recently, variations in self-esteem and internal locus of control have been shown to predict the neuroendocrine cortisol response to stress. Cumulative exposure to high levels of cortisol over the lifetime is known to be related to hippocampal atrophy. We therefore examined hippocampal volume and cortisol regulation, to investigate potential biological mechanisms related to self-esteem. We investigated 16 healthy young (age range 20-26 years of age) and 23 healthy elderly subjects (age range 60-84 years). The young subjects were exposed to a psychosocial stress task, while the elderly subjects were assessed for their basal cortisol regulation. Structural Magnetic Resonance Images were acquired from all subjects, and volumetric analyses were performed on medial temporal lobe structures, and whole brain gray matter. Standardized neuropsychological assessments in the elderly were performed to assess levels of cognitive performance, and to exclude the possibility of neurodegenerative disease. Self-esteem and internal locus of control were significantly correlated with hippocampal volume in both young and elderly subjects. In the young, the cortisol response to the psychosocial stress task was significantly correlated with both hippocampal volume and levels of self-esteem and locus of control, while in the elderly, these personality traits moderated age-related patterns of cognitive decline, cortisol regulation, and global brain volume decline.
自尊，即我们对自己的评价，已被证明与健康、预期寿命及生活满意度相关。与自尊相关的是内控点，即个体对自身结果掌控程度的认知。最近研究表明，自尊和内控点的差异能够预测神经内分泌皮质醇对应激的反应。已知一生中累积暴露于高水平皮质醇与海马萎缩有关。因此，我们检测了海马体积和皮质醇调节，以探究与自尊相关的潜在生物学机制。我们研究了16名健康青年（年龄范围20 - 26岁）和23名健康老年人（年龄范围60 - 84岁）。青年受试者接受了一项心理社会应激任务，而老年受试者则接受了基础皮质醇调节评估。对所有受试者进行了结构磁共振成像，并对内侧颞叶结构和全脑灰质进行了体积分析。对老年人进行了标准化神经心理学评估，以评估认知表现水平，并排除神经退行性疾病的可能性。在青年和老年受试者中，自尊和内控点均与海马体积显著相关。在青年中，对心理社会应激任务的皮质醇反应与海马体积以及自尊和控制点水平均显著相关，而在老年人中，这些人格特质调节了与年龄相关的认知衰退、皮质醇调节和全脑体积下降模式。
