Glucocorticoid Release and Memory Consolidation in Men and Women

Glucocorticoid hormones have been shown to enhance memory consolidation when applied at low doses posttraining, but are ineffective or impair memory at high doses. In a test of whether this quadratic relationship also exists for endogenously released glucocorticoids, healthy men and women received c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychological science Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 466 - 470
Main Authors Andreano, Joseph M., Cahill, Larry
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing 01.06.2006
SAGE Publications
Subjects
Adolescent
Behavioral neuroscience
Corticosteroids
Experiments
Female
Gender
Glucocorticoids
Hormones
Humans
Hydrocortisone - analysis
Hydrocortisone - physiology
Male
Memory
Memory - physiology
Men
Mental stress
Neurobiology
Psychology
Research Reports
Retention (Psychology)
Saliva
Saliva - chemistry
Sex linked differences
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01729.x

Cover

More Information
Summary:Glucocorticoid hormones have been shown to enhance memory consolidation when applied at low doses posttraining, but are ineffective or impair memory at high doses. In a test of whether this quadratic relationship also exists for endogenously released glucocorticoids, healthy men and women received cold-pressor stress (CPS) or a control procedure immediately after reading a relatively neutral story and were tested for retention 1 week later. Cortisol levels in response to the stressor were assayed from saliva. CPS significantly elevated salivary cortisol in both sexes, but enhanced memory only in male subjects. Among CPS-treated male subjects, there was a significant quadratic correlation between cortisol release posttraining and subsequent memory. Thus, these findings represent the first demonstration of an inverted-U relationship between activity of endogenous stress hormones and human memory.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ObjectType-Article-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01729.x