Social stress-induced cortisol elevation acutely impairs social memory in humans

Although stress is known to affect the memory process, little has been elucidated regarding its effect on social memory. In this study, 30 subjects' social memory (face-name association memory) performance was tested. Twenty subjects were exposed to social stress with a subsequent test of social memory, while the remaining ten subjects served as controls. Free cortisol was determined via saliva samples taken before and after the social stress exposure. Because stress hormones might have biphasic actions on neurons, we separated the subjects with cortisol elevations between high and low responders. The high responders had significantly impaired social memory. Furthermore, we observed a negative relation between social stress-induced cortisol elevation and social memory. These results indicate that social stress acutely impairs social memory.

[1]  Bruce S. McEwen,et al.  The relationship between stress induced cortisol levels and memory differs between men and women , 2001, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[2]  B. McEwen,et al.  Modification of Social Memory, Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, and Brain Asymmetry by Neonatal Novelty Exposure , 2003, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[3]  B. McEwen,et al.  Stress-induced declarative memory impairment in healthy elderly subjects: relationship to cortisol reactivity. , 1997, The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism.

[4]  Taiki Takahashi,et al.  Corticosterone acutely prolonged N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate receptor‐mediated Ca2+ elevation in cultured rat hippocampal neurons , 2002, Journal of neurochemistry.

[5]  J. Newcomer,et al.  Decreased memory performance in healthy humans induced by stress-level cortisol treatment. , 1999, Archives of general psychiatry.

[6]  J. Peirce,et al.  Sheep don't forget a face , 2001, Nature.

[7]  H. Fehm,et al.  Auditory reflex thresholds elevated by stress-induced cortisol secretion , 1993, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[8]  Thomas R. Insel,et al.  The Neuroendocrine Basis of Social Recognition , 2002, Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology.

[9]  M. Shimada,et al.  Determination of salivary cortisol by ELISA and its application to the assessment of the circadian rhythm in children. , 1995, Hormone research.

[10]  Marian Joëls,et al.  Stress and cognition: are corticosteroids good or bad guys? , 1999, Trends in Neurosciences.

[11]  Bruce S. McEwen,et al.  The acute effects of corticosteroids on cognition: integration of animal and human model studies , 1997, Brain Research Reviews.

[12]  Colin Camerer.  Strategizing in the Brain , 2003, Science.

[13]  C. Elger,et al.  Expression of mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptor mRNA in the human hippocampus , 2000, Neuroscience Letters.

[14]  C. Kirschbaum,et al.  Salivary cortisol in psychoneuroendocrine research: Recent developments and applications , 1994, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[15]  T. Yamagishi,et al.  You can judge a book by its cover: Evidence that cheaters may look different from cooperators , 2003 .

[16]  Sheng-tian Li,et al.  Oxytocin improves long-lasting spatial memory during motherhood through MAP kinase cascade , 2003, Nature Neuroscience.

[17]  C. Carter,et al.  NEUROENDOCRINE PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL ATTACHMENT AND LOVE , 1998, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[18]  C. Kirschbaum,et al.  The 'Trier Social Stress Test'--a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. , 1993, Neuropsychobiology.

[19]  S. Engel,et al.  Dynamics of the Hippocampus During Encoding and Retrieval of Face-Name Pairs , 2003, Science.

[20]  Russell A. Poldrack,et al.  Putting names to faces: Successful encoding of associative memories activates the anterior hippocampal formation , 2003, NeuroImage.

[21]  A. Scarpa,et al.  Self-esteem, cortisol reactivity, and depressed mood mediated by perceptions of control , 2002, Biological Psychology.

[22]  T. Insel,et al.  Rearing Effects on Cerebrospinal Fluid Oxytocin Concentration and Social Buffering in Rhesus Monkeys , 2003, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[23]  W. Hamilton,et al.  The Evolution of Cooperation , 1984 .

[24]  J. Haller,et al.  Non-genomic effects of glucocorticoids in the neural system Evidence, mechanisms and implications , 2001, Progress in Neurobiology.

[25]  K. Kendrick,et al.  Increased BDNF and trk‐B mRNA expression in cortical and limbic regions following formation of a social recognition memory , 2002, The European journal of neuroscience.

[26]  R. S. Jorgensen,et al.  Stress, Glucocorticoids, and Memory: A Meta-analytic Review , 2003, Stress.

[27]  N. Takata,et al.  Hippocampal cytochrome P450s synthesize brain neurosteroids which are paracrine neuromodulators of synaptic signal transduction. , 2003, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[28]  Ken A Paller,et al.  Neural correlates of person recognition. , 2003, Learning & memory.