School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
PLoS One. 2013 Apr 29;8(4):e62675. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062675. Print 2013.
Intrusive memories are a common feature of many psychological disorders. Recent evidence has potentially extended cognitive models of intrusions by identifying the role of biological markers of arousal at the time of consolidation in subsequent memory for emotional events. This study investigated the role of arousal during consolidation in the development of intrusive memories. Seventy-eight university students (37 men and 41 women) viewed 20 negative and 20 neutral images. Half the participants then underwent a cold pressor test (High Stress), immersing their hand in ice water, while the remaining participants immersed their hand in warm water (Low Stress). Samples of salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and cortisol were collected from participants at baseline and following the stressor challenge. Participants completed a delayed free recall test and intrusion questionnaires two days later. Participants in the High Stress condition reported more intrusions of negative images than participants in the Low Stress condition. An interaction variable in a linear regression of increased noradrenergic and cortisol values predicted intrusive memories of emotional stimuli for men but not women. These findings are consistent with recent evidence of the combined effects of noradrenaline and corticoid responses to stress on emotional memories, and also with increasing evidence of gender differences in how stress hormones influence formation of emotional memories. These findings point to possible mechanisms by which development of intrusions may be prevented after consolidation of traumatic experiences.
侵入性记忆是许多心理障碍的共同特征。最近的证据通过确定在巩固时生物唤醒标志物在随后对情绪事件的记忆中的作用，潜在地扩展了侵入性记忆的认知模型。本研究调查了巩固过程中唤醒在侵入性记忆发展中的作用。78 名大学生（37 名男性和 41 名女性）观看了 20 张负面和 20 张中性图像。一半的参与者随后接受冷加压测试（高压力），将手浸入冰水中，而其余参与者将手浸入温水中（低压力）。在基线和应激源挑战后，从参与者中采集唾液α-淀粉酶（sAA）和皮质醇样本。两天后，参与者完成了延迟自由回忆测试和侵入性问卷。高压力组的参与者报告的负面图像侵入性比低压力组的参与者多。线性回归中增加的去甲肾上腺素和皮质醇值的交互变量预测了男性对情绪刺激的侵入性记忆，但对女性没有预测。这些发现与最近关于去甲肾上腺素和皮质醇对压力的反应对情绪记忆的综合影响的证据一致，也与越来越多的证据表明应激激素如何影响情绪记忆形成方面的性别差异一致。这些发现指出了在创伤经历巩固后可能预防侵入性发展的可能机制。
