Department of Psychological Science, School of Social Ecology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Dev Psychobiol. 2021 Jul;63(5):1597-1605. doi: 10.1002/dev.22105. Epub 2021 Feb 9.
Early life stress (ELS) is a well-established risk factor for psychopathology across the lifespan. Cognitive vulnerability to stress-induced cortisol may explain risk and resilience. The current study aimed to elucidate a psychobiological pathway linking stress to altered memory for affective words among youth with and without exposure to ELS. One hundred and fifteen youth (ages 9-16, 47% female) were randomized either to a psychosocial stressor or a control condition. Immediately following the stress or control condition, participants completed a memory task for affective words. Change in salivary cortisol from immediately before to 25 min after stress onset were used to predict memory for affective words. Exposure to the acute laboratory stressor led to activation of the HPA axis. Greater cortisol reactivity was associated with less accurate recognition of negative valence words. Among youth exposed to ELS, greater cortisol reactivity to acute stress was associated with poorer recognition of dysphoric and neutral words. Acute increases in cortisol may interfere with negatively-valenced information processing that has implications for memory. Youth exposed to high ELS may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of cortisol, which may explain one pathway through which stress leads to psychopathology among at-risk youth.
早期生活压力 (ELS) 是贯穿整个生命周期精神病理学的一个既定风险因素。对压力引起的皮质醇的认知易感性可以解释风险和弹性。本研究旨在阐明一条心理生物学途径，将压力与经历或未经历 ELS 的年轻人对情感词汇的记忆改变联系起来。115 名青年（年龄 9-16 岁，47%为女性）被随机分配到心理社会应激组或对照组。在应激或对照条件后，参与者立即完成了情感词汇的记忆任务。应激开始前 25 分钟唾液皮质醇的变化用于预测情感词汇的记忆。暴露于急性实验室应激会导致 HPA 轴的激活。皮质醇反应性越大，对负性词汇的识别准确性越低。在经历 ELS 的年轻人中，急性应激时皮质醇反应性增加与对抑郁和中性词汇的识别能力下降有关。急性皮质醇升高可能会干扰对负性信息的处理，这对记忆有影响。经历过高 ELS 的年轻人可能特别容易受到皮质醇的影响，这可能解释了压力导致高危青年出现精神病理学的一条途径。
