Effects of acute laboratory stress on executive functions

Frontiers in Psychology

Volumn 7, Issue MAR, 2016, Pages

  Starcke, Katrin ^a   Wiesen, Carina ^a   Trotzke, Patrick ^a   Brand, Matthias ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF DUISBURG ESSEN   (Germany)

^b ERWIN L HAHN INSTITUTE FOR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING   (Germany)

Author keywords

Attention and inhibition; Coding; Executive functions; Monitoring; Planning; Stress; Task management

Indexed keywords

EID: 84963638709     PISSN: None     EISSN: 16641078     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00461     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 10, 410-422. doi: 10.1038/nrn2648
2. Baddeley, A. D., and Hitch, G. (1974). "Working memory," in The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory, Vol. 8, ed. G. A. Bower (New York, NY: Academic Press), 47-89.
3. Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., and Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: is the active self a limited resource? J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 74, 1252-1265. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1252
4. Bäumler, G. (1985). Farbe-Wort-Interferenztest Nach Stroop (FWIT) [Color-Word-Interference-Test After Stroop]. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
5. Beste, C., Yildiz, A., Meissner, T. W., and Wolf, O. T. (2013). Stress improves task processing efficiency in dual-tasks. Behav. Brain Res. 252, 260-265. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.06.013
6. de Frias, C. M., Dixon, R. A., and Strauss, E. (2006). Structure of four executive functioning tests in healthy older adults. Neuropsychology 20, 206-214. doi: 10.1037/0894-4105.20.2.206
7. Dedovic, K., D'Aguiar, C., and Pruessner, J. C. (2009). What stress does to your brain: a review of neuroimaging studies. Can. J. Psychiatry 54, 6-15.
8. Devilbiss, D. M., Jenison, R. L., and Berridge, C. W. (2012). Stress-induced impairment of a working memory task: role of spiking rate and spiking history predicted discharge. PLoS Comput. Biol. 8:e1002681. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002681
9. Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 64, 135-168. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
10. Dickerson, S. S., and Kemeny, M. E. (2004). Acute stressors and cortisol responses: a theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychol. Bull. 130, 355-391. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.355
11. Ekkekakis, P. (2013). The Measurement of Affect, Mood, and Emotion: A Guide for Health-Behavioral Research. Cambridge: University Press.
12. Eslinger, P. J., Lyon, G. R., and Krasnegor, N. A. (1996). "Conceptualizing, describing and measuring components of attention: a summary," in Attention, Memory, and Executive Function, eds G. R. Lyon and N. A. Krasnegor (Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brookes Publishing), 221-231.
13. Gathmann, B., Schulte, F. P., Maderwald, S., Pawlikowski, M., Starcke, K., Schäfer, L. C., et al. (2014). Stress and decision making: neural correlates of the interaction between stress, executive functions, and decision making under risk. Exp. Brain Res. 232, 957-973. doi: 10.1007/s00221-013-3808-6
14. Godefroy, O., Cabaret, M., Petit-Chenal, V., Pruvo, J.-P., and Rousseaux, M. (1999). Control functions of the frontal lobe: modularity of the central-supervisory system. Cortex 35, 1-20. doi: 10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70782-2
15. Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (1996). The prefrontal landscape: implications of functional architecture for understanding human mentation and the central executive. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 351, 1445-1453. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1996.0129
16. Goodie, J. L., Larkin, K. R., and Schauss, S. (2000). Validation of the polar heart rate monitor for assessing heart rate during physical and mental stress. J. Psychophysiol. 14, 159-164. doi: 10.1027/0269-8803.14.3.159
17. Harada, C. N., Natelson Love, M. C., and Triebel, K. L. (2013). Normal cognitive aging. Clin. Geriatr. Med. 29, 737-752. doi: 10.1016/j.cger.2013.07.002
18. Henderson, R. K., Snyder, H. R., Gupta, T., and Banich, M. T. (2012). When does stress help or harm? The effects of stress controllability and subjective stress response on stroop performance. Front. Psychol. 3:179. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00179
19. Hendrawan, D., Yamakawa, K., Kimura, M., Murakami, H., and Ohira, H. (2012). Executive functioning performance predicts subjective and physiological acute stress reactivity: preliminary results. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 84, 277-283. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.03.006
20. Hermans, E. J., Henckens, M. J. A. G., Joels, M., and Fernandez, G. (2014). Dynamic adaptation of large-scale brain networks in response to acute stressors. Trends Neurosci. 37, 304-314. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2014.03.006
21. Jurado, M., and Rosselli, M. (2007). The elusive nature of executive functions: a review of our current understanding. Neuropsychol. Rev. 17, 213-233. doi: 10.1007/s11065-007-9040-z
22. Koolhaas, J. M., Bartolomucci, A., Buwalda, B., De Boer, S. F., Flügge, G., Korte, S. M., et al. (2011). Stress revisited: a critical evaluation of the stress concept. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 35, 1291-1301. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.02.003
23. Kudielka, B. M., Hellhammer, D. H., and Wüst, S. (2009). Why do we respond so differently? Reviewing determinants of human salivary cortisol responses to challenge. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34, 2-18. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.10.004
24. Leder, J., Häusser, J. A., and Mojzisch, A. (2013). Stress and strategic decision-making in the beauty contest game. Psychoneuroendocrinology 38, 1503-1511. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012
25. Lejuez, C. W., Kahler, C. W., and Brown, R. A. (2003). A modified computer version of the paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT) laboratory-based stressor. Behav. Therapist. 26, 290-293.
26. Lezak, M. D. (1995). Neuropsychological Assessment. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
27. Mathias, C. W., Stanford, M. S., and Houston, R. J. (2004). The physiological experience of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT): does the PASAT induce autonomic arousal? Arch. Clin. Neuropsychol. 19, 543-554. doi: 10.1016/j.acn.2003.08.001
28. Miyake, A., and Friedman, N. P. (2012). The nature and organization of individual differences in executive functions: four general conclusions. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 21, 8-14. doi: 10.1177/0963721411429458
29. Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., and Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "Frontal Lobe" tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cogn. Psychol. 41, 49-100. doi: 10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
30. Nee, D. E., Brown, J. W., Askren, M. K., Berman, M. G., Demiralp, E., Krawitz, A., et al. (2013). A meta-analysis of executive components of working memory. Cereb. Cortex 23, 264-282. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhs007
31. Pabst, S., Schoofs, D., Pawlikowski, M., Brand, M., and Wolf, O. T. (2013). Paradoxical effects of stress and an executive task on decisions under risk. Behav. Neurosci. 127, 369-379. doi: 10.1037/a0032334
32. Plessow, F., Kiesel, A., and Kirschbaum, C. (2012a). The stressed prefrontal cortex and goal-directed behavior: acute psychosocial stress impairs the flexible implementation of task goals. Exp. Brain Res. 216, 397-408. doi: 10.1007/s00221-011-2943-1
33. Plessow, F., Schade, S., Kirschbaum, C., and Fischer, R. (2012b). Better not to deal with two tasks at the same time when stressed? Acute psychosocial stress reduces task shielding in dual-task performance. Cogn. Affect. Behav. Neurosci. 12, 557-570. doi: 10.3758/s13415-012-0098-6
34. Pruessner, J. C., Dedovic, K., Pruessner, M., Lord, C., Buss, C., Collins, L., et al. (2010). Stress regulation in the central nervous system: evidence from structural and functional neuroimaging studies in human populations-2008 Curt Richter Award Winner. Psychoneuroendocrinology 35, 179-191. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.02.016
35. Reinhardt, T., Schmahl, C., Wüst, S., and Bohus, M. (2012). Salivary cortisol, heart rate, electrodermal activity and subjective stress responses to the Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test (MMST). Psychiatry Research 198, 106-111. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2011.12.009
36. Reitan, R. M. (1958). Validity of the Trailmaking Test as an indication of organic brain damage. Percept. Mot. Skills 8, 271-276. doi: 10.2466/pms.1958.8.3.271
37. Roiland, R. A., Lin, F., Phelan, C., and Chapman, B. P. (2015). Stress regulation as a link between executive function and pre-frailty in older adults. J. Nutrit. Health Aging 19, 828-838. doi: 10.1007/s12603-015-0476-1
38. Sänger, J., Bechtold, L., Schoofs, D., Blaszkewicz, M., and Wascher, E. (2014). The influence of acute stress on attention mechanisms and its electrophysiological correlates. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 8:353. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00353
39. Schiebener, J., Wegmann, E., Gathmann, B., Laier, C., Pawlikowski, M., and Brand, M. (2014). Among three different executive functions, general executive control ability is a key predictor of decision making under objective risk. Front. Psychol. 5:1386. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01386
40. Schmeichel, B. J., Vohs, K. D., and Baumeister, R. F. (2003). Intellectual performance and ego depletion: role of the self in logical reasoning and other information processing. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 85, 33-46. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.33
41. Scholz, U., La Marca, R., Nater, U. M., Aberle, I., Ehlert, U., Hornung, R., et al. (2009). Go no-go performance under psychosocial stress: beneficial effects of implementation intentions. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 91, 89-92. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2008.09.002
42. Schoofs, D., Preub, D., and Wolf, O. T. (2008). Psychosocial stress induces working memory impairments in an n-back paradigm. Psychoneuroendocrinology 33, 643-653. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.02.004
43. Simon, H. A. (1975). The functional equivalence of problem solving skills. Cogn. Psychol. 7, 268-288. doi: 10.1016/0010-0285(75)90012-2
44. Smith, E. E., and Jonides, J. (1999). Storage and executive processes in the frontal lobes. Science 283, 1657-1661. doi: 10.1126/science.283.5408.1657
45. Spielberger, C. D. (1972). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Prof. Psychol. 3, 389-390. doi: 10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0943
46. Starcke, K., Wolf, O. T., Markowitsch, H. J., and Brand, M. (2008). Anticipatory stress influences decision making under explicit risk conditions. Behav. Neurosci. 122, 1352-1360. doi: 10.1037/a0013281
47. Stuss, D. T., and Alexander, M. P. (2000). Executive functions and the frontal lobes: a conceptual view. Psychological Research 63, 289-298. doi: 10.1007/s004269900007
48. Wechsler, D. (1981). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.