Intergenerational Effects of Stress - A Focus on Learning and Memory

Stress is a ubiquitous facet of life. Ranging in form (e.g., psychosocial, physical, nutritional, economic) and longevity (e.g., acute, chronic), stressors affect the biology of those directly in their line of attack. As is becoming increasingly appreciated, the pernicious effects of stress echo across generations (Dias et al. 2015; Yehuda and Lehrner 2018; Jawaid et al. 2021; Dion et al. 2022; Zhou and Ryan 2023; Dias 2024). With a focus on learning and memory, this chapter addresses how stressors derail learning and memory in the generation directly exposed to them andin future generations. To do so, with a specific emphasis on associative fear conditioning in humans and rodents, we touch upon the relevance of extinction training in the aftermath of such conditioning and the recall of such extinction training as windows into normative and disrupted learning. Next, we briefly discuss underlying neuroanatomical substrates mediating these processes. We then draw attention to influences of postnatal, in utero, and pre-conceptional stress on learning and memory across generations. Finally, we briefly outline biological factors that underlie how learning and memory is derailed by these stressors.