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Related Experiment Videos

Adrenocortical stress responses and altered working memory performance.

Mustafa al'Absi1, Kenneth Hugdahl, William R Lovallo

  • 1Department of Behavioral Sciences, Physiology, and Family Medicine, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Duluth 55812, USA. malabsi@umn.edu

Psychophysiology
|September 11, 2002
PubMed
Summary

High cortisol responders showed impaired mental arithmetic but enhanced sensory processing. This suggests stress hormone levels influence cognitive resource allocation between working memory and attention.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Endocrinology

Background:

  • Stress impacts cognitive functions.
  • Cortisol is a key stress hormone.
  • Individual differences in cortisol response exist.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Examine cortisol responses to stressors.
  • Investigate the relationship between cortisol reactivity and cognitive performance.
  • Understand how stress hormones affect attention and working memory.

Main Methods:

  • Measured cortisol levels in 40 healthy males.
  • Administered mental arithmetic and public speaking stressors.
  • Assessed cognitive performance using dichotic listening and mental arithmetic tasks.

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Main Results:

  • High cortisol responders made more errors on mental arithmetic.
  • High cortisol responders completed fewer mental arithmetic items.
  • High cortisol responders demonstrated better performance on dichotic listening tasks, particularly for the right ear.

Conclusions:

  • Cortisol reactivity is linked to cognitive performance variations.
  • High cortisol responders may prioritize sensory processing over working memory.
  • Stress hormone levels can modulate the allocation of cognitive resources.