Laboratory of Social Neuroscience, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain.
Stress. 2011 Mar;14(2):117-27. doi: 10.3109/10253890.2010.514671. Epub 2010 Oct 31.
Stress has been identified as a main factor involved in the cognitive changes that occur during the aging process. This study investigated sex differences in the relationship between the magnitude of the acute stress-induced salivary cortisol response and memory performance among middle-aged people. To this end, 16 men and 16 women (aged 54-72 years) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test and a control condition in a crossover design. Afterwards their memory performance was measured using a standardized memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test). Only among women, there was an acute impact of stress on memory performance and a significant relationship between a higher cortisol response to the stressor and poorer memory performance in both the stress and control conditions. Additionally, a poorer memory performance was related to earlier timing of sexual maturation (age at menarche), which was also marginally related to higher cortisol reactivity to stress. These results confirm that sex is a critical factor in the relationship between cortisol and poor memory performance. Furthermore, the findings emphasize a strong link between the individual cortisol response to stress and memory functioning among postmenopausal women.
压力已被确定为与衰老过程中发生的认知变化有关的主要因素之一。本研究调查了中年人群中急性应激引起的唾液皮质醇反应幅度与记忆表现之间的关系中的性别差异。为此，16 名男性和 16 名女性（年龄在 54-72 岁之间）在交叉设计中暴露于特里尔社会应激测试和对照条件下。之后，他们使用标准化记忆测试（ Rey 的听觉言语学习测试）测量他们的记忆表现。只有在女性中，应激对记忆表现有急性影响，并且在应激和对照条件下，皮质醇对压力源的反应越高，记忆表现越差。此外，较差的记忆表现与性成熟（初潮年龄）的时间较早有关，而性成熟与皮质醇对压力的反应性较高也有一定的关系。这些结果证实，性别是皮质醇与较差的记忆表现之间关系的关键因素。此外，这些发现强调了个体对压力的皮质醇反应与绝经后妇女的记忆功能之间的紧密联系。
