Psychoneuroendocrinology
Volume 34, Issue 9 , Pages 1284-1293 , October 2009

Hydrocortisone reduces emotional distracter interference in working memory

  • Nicole Y.L. Oei

      Affiliations

    • Leiden University - Institute for Psychological Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
    • Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: Leiden University - Institute for Psychological Research, Clinical, Health and Neuropsychology Unit, Wassenaarseweg 52, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 71 527 3836; fax: +31 71 5274678.
    • ,
  • Marieke S. Tollenaar

      Affiliations

    • Leiden University - Institute for Psychological Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Philip Spinhoven

      Affiliations

    • Leiden University - Institute for Psychological Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
    • Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands
    • Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Bernet M. Elzinga

      Affiliations

    • Leiden University - Institute for Psychological Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
    • Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands

Received 21 November 2008 ,Revised 6 March 2009 ,Accepted 23 March 2009.

References 

  1. Abercrombie HC, Kalin NH, Thurow ME, Rosenkranz MA, Davidson RJ. Cortisol variation in humans affects memory for emotionally laden and neutral information. Behav. Neurosci. 2003;117:505–516
  2. Abercrombie HC, Kalin NH, Davidson RJ. Acute cortisol elevations cause heightened arousal ratings of objectively nonarousing stimuli. Emotion. 2005;5:354–359
  3. Aerni A, Traber R, Hock C, Roozendaal B, Schelling G, Papassotiropoulos A, et al. Low-dose cortisol for symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2004;161:1488–1490
  4. Arnsten AF. Stress impairs prefrontal cortical function in rats and monkeys: role of dopamine D1 and norepinephrine alpha-1 receptor mechanisms. Prog. Brain Res. 2000;126:183–192
  5. Arnsten AF, Goldman-Rakic PS. Noise stress impairs prefrontal cortical cognitive function in monkeys: evidence for a hyperdopaminergic mechanism. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1998;55:362–368
  6. Arnsten AF, Li BM. Neurobiology of executive functions: catecholamine influences on prefrontal cortical functions. Biol. Psychiatry. 2005;57:1377–1384
  7. Baddeley A, Della SS. Working memory and executive control. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci. 1996;351:1397–1403
  8. Beckham JC, Crawford AL, Feldman ME. Trail making test performance in Vietnam combat veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. J. Trauma. Stress. 1998;11:811–819
  9. Bremner JD. Stress and brain atrophy. CNS. Neurol. Disord. Drug Targets. 2006;5:503–512
  10. Bremner JD. Neuroimaging studies in post-traumatic stress disorder. Curr. Psychiatry Rep. 2002;4:254–263
  11. Brewin CR, Smart L. Working memory capacity and suppression of intrusive thoughts. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psychiatry. 2005;36:61–68
  12. Buchanan TW, Brechtel A, Sollers JJ, Lovallo WR. Exogenous cortisol exerts effects on the startle reflex independent of emotional modulation. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 2001;68:203–210
  13. Buchanan TW, Lovallo WR. Enhanced memory for emotional material following stress-level cortisol treatment in humans. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2001;26:307–317
  14. Buchanan TW, Tranel D, Adolphs R. Impaired memory retrieval correlates with individual differences in cortisol response but not autonomic response. Learn. Mem. 2006;13:382–387
  15. Cahill L, Gorski L, Le K. Enhanced human memory consolidation with post-learning stress: interaction with the degree of arousal at encoding. Learn. Mem. 2003;10:270–274
  16. Cahill L, Prins B, Weber M, McGaugh JL. Beta-adrenergic activation and memory for emotional events. Nature. 1994;371:702–704
  17. Cerqueira JJ, Almeida OF, Sousa N. The stressed prefrontal cortex. Left? Right!. Brain Behav. Immun. 2008;22:630–638
  18. Cerqueira JJ, Mailliet F, Almeida OF, Jay TM, Sousa N. The prefrontal cortex as a key target of the maladaptive response to stress. J. Neurosci. 2007;27:2781–2787
  19. Chao LL, Knight RT. Human prefrontal lesions increase distractibility to irrelevant sensory inputs. Neuroreport. 1995;6:1605–1610
  20. Chao LL, Knight RT. Contribution of human prefrontal cortex to delay performance. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 1998;10:167–177
  21. Clark CR, McFarlane AC, Morris P, Weber DL, Sonkkilla C, Shaw M, et al. Cerebral function in posttraumatic stress disorder during verbal working memory updating: a positron emission tomography study. Biol. Psychiatry. 2003;53:474–481
  22. Corbin L, Marquer J. Effect of a simple experimental control: the recall constraint in Sternberg's memory scanning task. Eur. J. Cogn. Psychol. 2008;20:913–935
  23. D’Esposito M, Cooney JW, Gazzaley A, Gibbs SE, Postle BR. Is the prefrontal cortex necessary for delay task performance? Evidence from lesion and FMRI data. J. Int. Neuropsychol. Soc. 2006;12:248–260
  24. D’Esposito M, Postle BR. The dependence of span and delayed-response performance on prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychologia. 1999;37:1303–1315
  25. de Fockert JW, Rees G, Frith CD, Lavie N. The role of working memory in visual selective attention. Science. 2001;291:1803–1806
  26. De Kloet ER, Vreugdenhil E, Oitzl MS, Joels M. Brain corticosteroid receptor balance in health and disease. Endocr. Rev. 1998;19:269–301
  27. de Quervain DJ, Aerni A, Roozendaal B. Preventive effect of beta-adrenoceptor blockade on glucocorticoid-induced memory retrieval deficits. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2007;164:967–969
  28. de Quervain DJ, Roozendaal B, Nitsch RM, McGaugh JL, Hock C. Acute cortisone administration impairs retrieval of long-term declarative memory in humans. Nat. Neurosci. 2000;3:313–314
  29. de Quervain DJF, Margraf J. Glucocorticoids for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias: a novel therapeutic approach. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 2008;583:365–371
  30. Diorio D, Viau V, Meaney MJ. The role of the medial prefrontal cortex (cingulate gyrus) in the regulation of hypthalamic–pituitary–adrenal responses to stress. J. Neurosci. 1993;13:3839–3847
  31. Dolcos F, Diaz-Granados P, Wang L, McCarthy G. Opposing influences of emotional and non-emotional distracters upon sustained prefrontal cortex activity during a delayed-response working memory task. Neuropsychologia. 2008;46:326–335
  32. Dolcos F, McCarthy G. Brain systems mediating cognitive interference by emotional distraction. J. Neurosci. 2006;26:2072–2079
  33. Egner T, Etkin A, Gale S, Hirsch J. Dissociable neural systems resolve conflict from emotional versus nonemotional distracters. Cereb. Cortex. 2008;18:1475–1484
  34. Elzinga BM, Bremner JD. Are the neural substrates of memory the final common pathway in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?. J. Affect. Disord. 2002;70:1–17
  35. Elzinga BM, Roelofs K. Cortisol-induced impairments of working memory require acute sympathetic activation. Behav. Neurosci. 2005;119:98–103
  36. Etkin A, Egner T, Peraza DM, Kandel ER, Hirsch J. Resolving emotional conflict: a role for the rostral anterior cingulate cortex in modulating activity in the amygdala. Neuron. 2006;51:871–882
  37. Gazzaley A, Cooney JW, Rissman J, D’Esposito M. Top-down suppression deficit underlies working memory impairment in normal aging. Nat. Neurosci. 2005;8:1298–1300
  38. Galletly C, Clark CR, McFarlane AC, Weber DL. Working memory in posttraumatic stress disorder: an event-related potential study. J. Trauma. Stress. 2001;14:295–309
  39. Het S, Ramlov G, Wolf OT. A meta-analytic review of the effects of acute cortisol administration on human memory. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2005;30:771–784
  40. Het S, Wolf OT. Mood changes in response to psychosocial stress in healthy young women: effects of pretreatment with cortisol. Behav. Neurosci. 2007;121:11–20
  41. Hou C, Liu J, Wang K, Li L, Liang M, He Z, et al. Brain responses to symptom provocation and trauma-related short-term memory recall in coal mining accident survivors with acute severe PTSD. Brain Res. 2007;1144:165–174
  42. Kensinger EA, Corkin S. Effect of negative emotional content on working memory and long-term memory. Emotion. 2003;3:378–393
  43. Kern S, Oakes TR, Stone CK, McAuliff EM, Kirschbaum C, Davidson RJ. Glucose metabolic changes in the prefrontal cortex are associated with HPA axis response to a psychosocial stressor. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2008;33:517–529
  44. Kirschbaum C, Hellhammer DH. Salivary cortisol in psychobiological research: an overview. Neuropsychobiology. 1989;22:150–169
  45. Kirschbaum C, Hellhammer DH. Salivary cortisol in psychoneuroendocrine research: recent developments and applications. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1994;19:313–333
  46. Kuhlmann S, Kirschbaum C, Wolf OT. Effects of oral cortisol treatment in healthy young women on memory retrieval of negative and neutral words. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 2005;83:158–162
  47. Kuhlmann S, Wolf OT. Arousal and cortisol interact in modulating memory consolidation in healthy young men. Behav. Neurosci. 2006;120:217–223
  48. Lang PJ. Behavioral treatment and bio-behavioral assessment: computer applications. In:  Sidowski JB,  Johnson JH,  Williams TA editor. Technology in Mental Health Care Delivery Systems. Norwood, NJ: Ablex; 1980;p. 119–137
  49. Lang, P.J., Bradley, M.M., Cuthbert, B.N., 2001. International Affective Picture System (IAPS): instruction manual and affective ratings. Technical Report A-5, The Center for Research in Psychophysiology, University of Florida.
  50. Lavie N. Distracted and confused?: selective attention under load. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2005;9:75–82
  51. Liberzon I, King AP, Britton JC, Phan KL, Abelson JL, Taylor SF. Paralimbic and medial prefrontal cortical involvement in neuroendocrine responses to traumatic stimuli. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2007;164:1250–1258
  52. Lupien SJ, Gillin CJ, Hauger RL. Working memory is more sensitive than declarative memory to the acute effects of corticosteroids: a dose–response study in humans. Behav. Neurosci. 1999;113:420–430
  53. Lupien SJ, Lepage M. Stress, memory, and the hippocampus: can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Behav. Brain Res. 2001;127:137–158
  54. Lupien SJ, Wilkinson CW, Briere S, Menard C, Ng Ying Kin NM, Nair NP. The modulatory effects of corticosteroids on cognition: studies in young human populations. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2002;27:401–416
  55. McNally RJ. Experimental approaches to cognitive abnormality in posttraumatic stress disorder. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 1998;18:971–982
  56. Mizoguchi K, Ishige A, Takeda S, Aburada M, Tabira T. Endogenous glucocorticoids are essential for maintaining prefrontal cortical cognitive function. J. Neurosci. 2004;24:5492–5499
  57. Mizoguchi K, Yuzurihara M, Ishige A, Sasaki H, Chui DH, Tabira T. Chronic stress induces impairment of spatial working memory because of prefrontal dopaminergic dysfunction. J. Neurosci. 2000;20:1568–1574
  58. Moores KA, Clark CR, McFarlane AC, Brown GC, Puce A, Taylor DJ. Abnormal recruitment of working memory updating networks during maintenance of trauma-neutral information in post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatry Res. 2008;163(2):156–170
  59. Muller NG, Knight RT. The functional neuroanatomy of working memory: contributions of human brain lesion studies. Neuroscience. 2006;139:51–58
  60. Oei NY, Everaerd WT, Elzinga BM, van Well S, Bermond B. Psychosocial stress impairs working memory at high loads: an association with cortisol levels and memory retrieval. Stress. 2006;9:133–141
  61. Ohman A, Flykt A, Esteves F. Emotion drives attention: detecting the snake in the grass. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 2001;130:466–478
  62. Postle BR. Delay-period activity in the prefrontal cortex: one function is sensory gating. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 2005;17:1679–1690
  63. Postle BR. Working memory as an emergent property of the mind and brain. Neuroscience. 2006;139:23–38
  64. Putman P, Hermans EJ, Koppeschaar H, van Schijndel A, van Honk J. A single administration of cortisol acutely reduces preconscious attention for fear in anxious young men. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2007;32:793–802
  65. Roozendaal B. Stress and memory: opposing effects of glucocorticoids on memory consolidation and memory retrieval. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 2002;78:578–595
  66. Roozendaal B. Systems mediating acute glucocorticoid effects on memory consolidation and retrieval. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry. 2003;27:1213–1223
  67. Roozendaal B, McReynolds JR, McGaugh JL. The basolateral amygdala interacts with the medial prefrontal cortex in regulating glucocorticoid effects on working memory impairment. J. Neurosci. 2004;24:1385–1392
  68. Roozendaal B, Okuda S, de Quervain DJ, McGaugh JL. Glucocorticoids interact with emotion-induced noradrenergic activation in influencing different memory functions. Neuroscience. 2006;138:901–910
  69. Schelling G, Roozendaal B, de Quervain DJ. Can posttraumatic stress disorder be prevented with glucocorticoids?. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 2004;1032:158–166
  70. Schelstraete MA, Hupet M. Cognitive aging and inhibitory efficiency in the Daneman and Carpenter's working memory task. Exp. Aging Res. 2002;28:269–279
  71. Schoofs D, Preuss D, Wolf OT. Psychosocial stress induces working memory impairments in an n-back paradigm. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2008;33:643–653
  72. Soravia LM, Heinrichs M, Aerni A, Maroni C, Schelling G, Ehlert U, et al. Glucocorticoids reduce phobic fear in humans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2006;103(14):5585–5590
  73. Sternberg S. High-speed scanning in human memory. Science. 1966;153:652–654
  74. Sternberg S. Memory-scanning: mental processes revealed by reaction-time experiments. Am. Sci. 1969;57:421–457
  75. Sullivan RM, Gratton A. Prefrontal cortical regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary–adrenal function in the rat and implications for psychopathology: side matters. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2002;27:99–114
  76. Tollenaar MS, Elzinga BM, Spinhoven P, Everaerd W. Immediate and prolonged effects of cortisol, but not propranolol, on memory retrieval in healthy young men. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 2009;91:23–31
  77. Veltmeyer MD, Clark CR, McFarlane AC, Felmingham KL, Bryant RA, Gordon E. Integrative assessment of brain and cognitive function in post-traumatic stress disorder. J. Integr. Neurosci. 2005;4:145–159
  78. Wechsler D. WAIS-III Administration and Scoring Manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation; 1997;
  79. Williams AD, Moulds ML. An investigation of the cognitive and experiential features of intrusive memories in depression. Memory. 2007;15:912–920
  80. Windmann S, Kutas M. Electrophysiological correlates of emotion-induced recognition bias. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 2001;13:577–592
  81. Wolf OT. HPA axis and memory. Best. Pract. Res. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 2003;17:287–299
  82. Wolf OT, Convit A, McHugh PF, Kandil E, Thorn EL, de Santi S, et al. Cortisol differentially affects memory in young and elderly men. Behav. Neurosci. 2001;115:1002–1011
  83. Yehuda R, Harvey PD, Buchsbaum M, Tischler L, Schmeidler J. Enhanced effects of cortisol administration on episodic and working memory in aging veterans with PTSD. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2007;32:2581–2591
  84. Young AH, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW, Cowen PJ. The effects of chronic administration of hydrocortisone on cognitive function in normal male volunteers. Psychopharmacology (Berl.). 1999;145:260–266

PII: S0306-4530(09)00098-5

doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.03.015

Psychoneuroendocrinology
Volume 34, Issue 9 , Pages 1284-1293 , October 2009

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution