The influence of acute stress on scenario construction

Stress impairs episodic memory retrieval. During scenario construction, semantic knowledge can complete episodic memories. However, it remains unclear how acute stress influences the interplay between episodic and semantic memories. In this preregistered study, 88 participants (44 women) were exposed to 24 household objects within a computer-based virtual 3D apartment, half of which they interacted with. The objects were placed either congruently (a toothbrush in the bathroom) or incongruently with semantic knowledge (a toaster in the bathroom, allowing to test the semantic contribution). The following day, acute stress induction took place before recognition of objects and their respective rooms. The stress induction successfully elicited stress responses, as indicated by physiological markers and self-reports, including an increase in salivary cortisol concentrations. Incorrect episodic memories were more often substituted by semantically congruent than unrelated rooms, indicating semantic construction. However, stress or sex did not influence semantic construction. Additionally, confidence ratings for correct episodic responses were the highest overall, while semantic errors received lower confidence than unrelated errors. Interestingly, acute stress increased confidence in unrelated errors in women. Overall, these findings support a constructive account of episodic memory retrieval involving completion with semantic information. Acute stress does not seem to directly influence semantic construction in this task. Future research should consider comparing different stress responses over time and their impact on the interplay between episodic and semantic memories.