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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Eye Tracking, Cortisol, and a Sleep vs. Wake Consolidation Delay: Combining Methods to Uncover an Interactive Effect of Sleep and Cortisol on Memory
Published on: June 18, 2014
Cortisol, growth hormone, free fatty acids, and experimentally evoked affective arousal
Abstract:
Eight male volunteers who viewed selected control, suspense, and erotic films experienced significant changes in affect that were limited to fatigue, anxiety, and sexual arousal, respectively. All subjects showed free fatty acid elevations with the suspense and erotic films and those subjects with the most anxiety and sexual arousal showed cortisol elevation with the suspense and erotic films, respectively. Growth hormone elevations occurred independently of cortisol elevations and were not clearly related to film or affect. Thus, activation of the pituitary-adrenocortical and sympathetic nervous systems appears to occur not in relation to a specific dysphoric state but rather with nonspecific affective arousal.
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