Marshall Amanda C, Cooper Nicholas R, Segrave Rebecca, Geeraert Nicolas
Department of Psychology, Centre for Brain Science, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.
Department of Psychology, Centre for Brain Science, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.
Neurobiol Aging. 2015 Jun;36(6):2136-44. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2015.02.026. Epub 2015 Mar 4.
A large field of research seeks to explore and understand the factors that may cause different rates of age-related cognitive decline within the general population. However, the impact of experienced stress on the human aging process has remained an under-researched possibility. This study explored the association between cumulative stressful experiences and cognitive aging, addressing whether higher levels of experienced stress correlate with impaired performance on 2 working memory tasks. Behavioral performance was paired with electroencephalographic recordings to enable insight into the underlying neural processes impacted on by cumulative stress. Thus, the electroencephalogram was recorded while both young and elderly performed 2 different working memory tasks (a Sternberg and N-back paradigm), and cortical oscillatory activity in the theta, alpha, and gamma bandwidths was measured. Behavioral data indicated that a higher stress score among elderly participants related to impaired performance on both tasks. Electrophysiological findings revealed a reduction in alpha and gamma event-related synchronization among high-stress-group elderly participants, indicating that higher levels of experienced stress may impact on their ability to actively maintain a stimulus in working memory and inhibit extraneous information interfering with successful maintenance. Findings provide evidence that cumulative experienced stress adversely affects cognitive aging.
一个广泛的研究领域致力于探索和理解可能导致普通人群中与年龄相关的认知衰退速率不同的因素。然而，经历的压力对人类衰老过程的影响一直是一个研究不足的可能性。本研究探讨了累积压力经历与认知衰老之间的关联，研究较高水平的经历压力是否与两项工作记忆任务的表现受损相关。行为表现与脑电图记录相结合，以便深入了解受累积压力影响的潜在神经过程。因此，在年轻人和老年人执行两项不同的工作记忆任务（斯特恩伯格任务和n-back范式）时记录脑电图，并测量θ、α和γ频段的皮层振荡活动。行为数据表明，老年参与者中较高的压力得分与两项任务的表现受损有关。电生理结果显示，高压力组老年参与者的α和γ事件相关同步性降低，表明较高水平的经历压力可能会影响他们在工作记忆中积极维持刺激以及抑制干扰成功维持的无关信息的能力。研究结果提供了证据，证明累积的经历压力会对认知衰老产生不利影响。
