Young Kymberly, Drevets Wayne C, Schulkin Jay, Erickson Kristine
Section on Neuroimaging in Mood and Anxiety Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA.
Behav Neurosci. 2011 Oct;125(5):735-41. doi: 10.1037/a0024764.
The glucocorticoid hormone cortisol has been shown to impair episodic memory performance. The present study examined the effect of two doses of hydrocortisone (synthetic cortisol) administration on autobiographical memory retrieval. Healthy volunteers (n = 66) were studied on two separate visits, during which they received placebo and either moderate-dose (0.15 mg/kg IV; n = 33) or high-dose (0.45 mg/kg IV; n = 33) hydrocortisone infusion. From 75 to 150 min post-infusion subjects performed an Autobiographical Memory Test and the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). The high-dose hydrocortisone administration reduced the percent of specific memories recalled (p = .04), increased the percent of categorical (nonspecific) memories recalled (p < .001), and slowed response times for categorical memories (p < .001), compared with placebo performance. Under moderate-dose hydrocortisone the autobiographical memory performance did not change significantly with respect to percent of specific or categorical memories recalled or reaction times. Performance on the CVLT was not affected by hydrocortisone. These findings suggest that cortisol affects accessibility of autobiographical memories in a dose-dependent manner. Specifically, administration of hydrocortisone at doses analogous to those achieved under severe psychosocial stress impaired the specificity and speed of retrieval of autobiographical memories.
糖皮质激素皮质醇已被证明会损害情景记忆表现。本研究考察了两种剂量的氢化可的松（合成皮质醇）给药对自传体记忆提取的影响。对健康志愿者（n = 66）进行了两次单独的访视，在此期间他们接受了安慰剂以及中等剂量（0.15 mg/kg静脉注射；n = 33）或高剂量（0.45 mg/kg静脉注射；n = 33）的氢化可的松输注。在输注后75至150分钟，受试者进行了自传体记忆测试和加利福尼亚言语学习测试（CVLT）。与安慰剂表现相比，高剂量氢化可的松给药降低了特定记忆的回忆百分比（p = .04），增加了分类（非特定）记忆的回忆百分比（p < .001），并减慢了分类记忆的反应时间（p < .001）。在中等剂量氢化可的松作用下，自传体记忆表现相对于特定或分类记忆的回忆百分比或反应时间没有显著变化。氢化可的松对CVLT的表现没有影响。这些发现表明，皮质醇以剂量依赖的方式影响自传体记忆的可及性。具体而言，给予与严重心理社会压力下所达到的剂量类似的氢化可的松会损害自传体记忆提取的特异性和速度。
