Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Department of Psychology.
Psychol Aging. 2021 Mar;36(2):241-251. doi: 10.1037/pag0000589. Epub 2021 Feb 4.
Does acute stress differentially alter cognitive functioning in older versus younger adults? While older adults may be better at handling stress psychologically, their physiological systems are less elastic, potentially impairing the cognitive functioning of older adults after a stressor. We examined cognition following an acute stressor among older ( = 65; ages 60-79) and younger ( = 61; ages 25-40) adults. Participants were randomized to complete the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in one of three conditions: (a) negative feedback, (b) positive feedback, or (c) no feedback. Participants reported mood states and appraisals of the speech task and we measured cortisol via saliva throughout the study. After the TSST, participants completed standard cognitive tasks to evaluate cognitive flexibility, problem solving, and short-term memory. Results showed that after the TSST, older adults took longer to solve problems compared with younger adults, though they were able to solve the same number of problems. Older adults showed less cognitive flexibility compared with younger adults in all conditions, a finding that was partially exaggerated in the positive feedback condition. There were no age-group differences in short-term memory; however, for older adults greater perceived resources and positive affect were associated with better memory performance. In sum, older and younger adults were both affected by acute stress, and older adults were not more (or less) vulnerable to the effects of stress on cognition, though they did show stronger associations between self-reported affective states and memory performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
急性压力是否会对老年人和年轻人的认知功能产生不同的影响？虽然老年人在心理上可能更擅长应对压力，但他们的生理系统弹性较差，在经历压力源后，可能会损害老年人的认知功能。我们在老年人（n=65；年龄 60-79 岁）和年轻人（n=61；年龄 25-40 岁）中检查了急性压力源后的认知功能。参与者被随机分配到三种条件之一完成特里尔社会压力测试（TSST）：（a）负面反馈，（b）正面反馈，或（c）无反馈。参与者报告了情绪状态和对演讲任务的评价，我们通过唾液测量了整个研究过程中的皮质醇水平。在 TSST 之后，参与者完成了标准的认知任务，以评估认知灵活性、解决问题和短期记忆。结果表明，与年轻人相比，老年人在 TSST 后解决问题的时间更长，但他们能够解决相同数量的问题。在所有条件下，与年轻人相比，老年人的认知灵活性都较低，这一发现在正反馈条件下部分被夸大。在短期记忆方面，年龄组之间没有差异；然而，对于老年人来说，感知到的资源和积极情绪越多，记忆表现越好。总之，老年人和年轻人都受到急性压力的影响，老年人对压力对认知的影响并不更（或更少）脆弱，尽管他们在自我报告的情感状态和记忆表现之间表现出更强的关联。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2021 APA，保留所有权利）。
