Centre for Occupational and Health Psychology, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Brain Behav Immun. 2012 Oct;26(7):1072-6. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2012.06.012. Epub 2012 Jun 27.
Previous research has shown that people with the common cold report a more negative mood and psychomotor slowing. Recent research suggests that memory speed may also be impaired. This was examined in the study reported here. A prospective design was used and all participants (N=200; half male, half female; mean age 21 years, range 18-30 years) carried out a baseline session when healthy. The test battery involved mood rating, simple and choice reaction time, verbal reasoning and semantic processing. Volunteers returned when they developed an upper respiratory tract illness (URTI) and repeated the test battery. If they remained healthy they were recalled as a control. One hundred and eighty-nine participants completed the study and 48 developed URTIs and 141 were in the healthy control group. Symptoms and signs suggested that those who were ill had colds rather than influenza. The results showed that those with colds reported lower alertness, a more negative mood, and psychomotor slowing. They were also slower at encoding new information and slower on the verbal reasoning and semantic processing tasks. The magnitude of the mood changes associated with being ill were correlated with symptom severity. The performance changes were not correlated with symptom severity, sleep duration or mood changes. Further research is now needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of the behavioral malaise associated with URTIs.
先前的研究表明，感冒患者的情绪更为负面，精神运动速度也更慢。最近的研究表明，记忆速度也可能受损。本研究对此进行了检验。采用前瞻性设计，所有参与者（N=200；男女各半；平均年龄 21 岁，范围 18-30 岁）在健康时进行基线测试。测试包括情绪评定、简单和选择反应时、言语推理和语义处理。志愿者在上呼吸道感染（URTI）发作时返回并重复测试。如果他们仍然健康，则作为对照进行召回。189 名参与者完成了研究，48 名参与者出现 URTI，141 名参与者为健康对照组。症状和体征表明，那些患病的人患有感冒而不是流感。结果表明，感冒患者报告的警觉性较低，情绪更为负面，精神运动速度也较慢。他们在编码新信息以及在言语推理和语义处理任务上也较慢。与患病相关的情绪变化的幅度与症状严重程度相关。表现变化与症状严重程度、睡眠时间或情绪变化无关。现在需要进一步的研究来阐明与 URTIs 相关的行为不适的潜在机制。
