New review on the differential impact of stress hormones on fear and anxiety
In a new review, we discuss recent laboratory findings on the timing-dependent effects of stress hormones on extinction learning and extinction retrieval. These experiments are highly important for clinical intervention approaches relying on extinction processes such as exposure therapy, for which beneficial effects of cortisol administration have been observed. For reconsolidation manipulation procedures utilizing the restabilization of retrieved (or reactivated) memories, blockade of adrenergic beta-receptors during reconsolidation of the fearful stimulus might represent a promising intervention. The substantial progress made in the understanding of the interaction of stress hormones with memory processes associated with fear and anxiety has the potential to enhance therapeutic success and prevent relapse in the long run.
The full citation of the new paper is:
Merz, C.J. & Wolf, O.T. (2022). How stress hormones shape memories of fear and anxiety in humans. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 142, 104901.
Our work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation) within the SFB 1280 Extinction Learning.
New paper on the influence of glucose availability on stress reactivity
Readily available energy in the form of glucose has been demonstrated to influence how our organism reacts to a stressful situation. In the present study, we investigated how glucose consumption prior to being stressed influences our body´s stress reaction utilizing the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test. Because acute stress as well as glucose can affect cognitive performance, we tested our participants´ memory in long-term memory retrieval and working memory tasks. After a fasting period of at least six hours, participants took part either in the laboratory stressor or a non-stressful control condition. Thirty minutes prior they consumed 75g of glucose or a placebo beverage consisting of stevia-sweetened water. Glucose consumption prior to stress exposure did not influence salivary cortisol levels, blood pressure, and subjective stress ratings. Working memory was impaired by stress, while glucose consumption did not affect performance. Long-term memory was not influenced by stress or glucose consumption. Our results suggest that the availability of glucose might be less crucial for a healthy stress reaction than previously assumed.
The full citation of the new paper is:
Rüttgens, T., Wolf, O.T. (2022). The influence of a glucose administration on stress responsivity and memory after a socially evaluated cold pressor test. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 142, 105803.
Our work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; SFB 874; Project B4: "Memories of a stressful episode")
New paper on the impact of acute stress on emotion regulation strategy choice
Acute stress activates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis leading to the release of (nor)-adrenaline and cortisol, respectively. This physiological stress response has been shown to foster an adaptive shift from flexible, demanding to rigid, less demanding cognitive processes. Reappraisal and distraction are two emotion regulation strategies varying in their cognitive demands and effectiveness in dependence of stimulus intensity. As such, one might assume that stress may favor preference for distraction over reappraisal serving an adaptive purpose. To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether acute stress alters strategy preference when downregulating emotions of different intensities evoked by negative pictures and further explored its influence on regulatory success. Whereas strategy choice frequencies provided information about relative strategy preference, subjective ratings and pupil dilations served as emotion regulation outcome measures. Increases in salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase levels (marker of SNS activity) and negative affect verified successful stress induction. As expected, stress increased the probability to prefer distraction when downregulating high intensity emotions. In contrast to controls, stressed participants also reported to be generally more successful in regulating high intensity emotions, which was positively associated with stress-related cortisol but not alpha-amylase increases. Taken together, this study provides initial evidence that stress favors preference for less cognitively demanding regulatory strategies that might aid quick and adequate coping with challenging emotions in daily life.
The full citation of the new paper is:
Langer, K., Jentsch, V.L., Wolf, O.T. (2022). Acute stress influences strategy preference when dealing with high intensity negative emotions in men. Biological Psychology, 169, 108264.
Our work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation; Project WO 733/15-1).
New paper on the influence of cortisol on the neural correlates of extinction generalization
The stimulus-specificity of extinction learning constitutes one of the main challenges for successful exposure therapy of anxiety disorders as fear naturally generalizes across perceptually and conceptually similar stimuli. However, extinction generalization treatments aid to overcome this caveat, prevent return of fear and reduce relapses. Importantly, previous studies emphasize the opportunity to enhance extinction retrieval with stress or the stress hormone cortisol administered prior to extinction training. Thus, a combination of both, extinction generalization treatment and a cortisol administration prior to extinction training, might represent a combination to facilitate exposure therapy and consequently reduce relapses. This fMRI study served to investigate the influence of cortisol on extinction generalization using multiple sizes of one conditioned stimulus (CS+G; generalized), while solely the original size of the other conditioned stimulus (CS+N; non-generalized) was presented during extinction training. During extinction training, we observed prolonged fear-related activation indicated by increased activation of the insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) for CS+G as compared to CS+N. During retrieval processes, however, fear-related activations in the amygdala and dACC were decreased for CS+G as compared to CS+N, indicating successful extinction generalization. In contrast to our hypothesis, cortisol did not further enhance extinction generalization but appeared to selectively enhance extinction retrieval for the standard extinction stimulus (CS+N).
The full citation of the new paper is: Hagedorn, B., Wolf, O. T., & Merz, C. J. (2022). Cortisol before extinction generalization alters its neural correlates during retrieval. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 136, 105607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105607 Our work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation) within the SFB 1280 Extinction Learning.
New paper on neural correlates of episodic memory reconsolidation
When memories are reactivated, they enter a period of instability in which they can be affected by a variety of follow-up manipulations. However, the internal neural mechanism of this memory reconsolidation, that is, how post-retrieval episodic updates exactly come about is not yet clear. In the current study, we used a three-day AB-AC paradigm that included self-referential simulation processing and employed electroencephalogram (EEG) techniques to explore this question. We found interference learning after memory retrieval can update the original episodic memory. More importantly, EEG data revealed that a moderate retrieval intention/error induction is critical for memory instability; Besides, updating the memory requires sufficient and prolonged reconstruction processing. Our research revealed that neural signatures of reconsolidation can predict the retention of the original memory, specifically, moderate conflict with protracted construction processing during reconsolidation can lead to optimal alterations of episodic memories.
The full citation of the new paper is: Dong-ni Pan, Delhii Hoid, Oliver T.Wolf, & Xuebing Li. (2021). Brain activities of reconsolidation: Nuances in post-retrieval interference led to optimal alterations of episodic memories. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 185,107531. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107531
New paper on stress research during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
Stress research is of crucial relevance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, lockdowns and contact restrictions imposed to prevent virus from further spreading, confront stress researchers in psychology and neuroscience with unique challenges. Experimental paradigms widely used to induce stress typically feature in-person social encounters. Hence, they conflict with COVID-19-related requirements. In order to continue stress research during the pandemic, researchers were forced to adapt established stress protocols. We reviewed the literature concerning trends and perspectives such as virtual reality, pre-recordings and online formats that may be useful to adapt established stress induction paradigms to COVID-19-related requirements. Regarding online formats, for instance, it is well feasible to transfer above-mentioned psychosocial stress induction to online communication software in where participant and investigators can meet without coming to research facilities where they may be set at risk for COVID-19 infection. Importantly, we concluded that some approaches to adapt stress protocols may not only help to continue stress research during COVID-19 but that they will likely stimulate the field far beyond the pandemic. For example, altered procedures may open stress research to new contexts or more diverse participant groups. Moreover, they bear the potential for new experimental manipulations.
The full citation of the new paper is: Pfeifer, L. S., Heyers, K., Ocklenburg, S., & Wolf, O. T. (2021). Stress Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic and beyond. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 131, 581-596. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.045 Our work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; SFB 874; Project B4: "Memories of a stressful episode")
New Paper about odours as cues of emotional memories
Odours constitute effective context cues, facilitating memory retrieval. Identifying factors which modulate the effectiveness of olfactory context cues can advance the understanding of processes underlying this effect. In a recently published study, we investigated whether the interplay of subjective stress and semantic relatedness between the odour and the learning material would modulate the effectiveness of an olfactory context cue. To this end, 120 participants watched a video of a stressful episode in which visual objects were present, that were either manipulated in the video (central objects) or not (peripheral objects). Participants rated their subjective stress afterwards. After 24 h, recognition and spatial memory of the objects in the video were tested. Ambient during encoding and recall was an odour related to the episode, an unrelated odour or no odour. As a result, we observed a narrowing of recognition memory with increased subjective stress elicited by the video - but only if a semantically related odour was ambient. Moreover, higher subjective stress predicted enhanced spatial memory in the no odour condition, but not in presence of a semantically related or unrelated odour. Our findings stress the importance of considering semantic relatedness between the olfactory context and the encoded episode when applying odours as context cues for emotional or stressful memories.
The full citation of the paper is: Pützer, A., Wolf, O. T. (2021). Odours as context cues of emotional memories – The role of semantic relatedness. Acta Psychologica, 219, 103377. Our work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG; SFB 874; Project B4: "Memories of a stressful episode")
PuG 2021: Wahl der DGPs-Fachgruppe Biologische Psychologie und Neuropsycholgie
Christian Merz wurde zum Mitglied der Sprechergruppe und Kassenwart der Fachgruppe Biologische Psychologie und Neuropsychologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie gewählt. Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Christian!
New paper on the impact of cortisol on cognitive emotion regulation
Acute stress leads to the secretion of the stress hormone cortisol and influences how we experience and react to emotional situations. Previous studies provide evidence for stress-induced beneficial effects on cognitive emotion regulation possibly mediated via cortisol increases. Cortisol can induce fast, non-genomic and slow, genomic effects on cognitive control functions. In this study, we therefore directly compared immediate and delayed effects of oral cortisol administration on the effectiveness to downregulate negative emotions via reappraisal and distraction and additionally explored the role of stimulus intensity. Affective ratings and pupil dilations served as regulatory outcome measures and verified successful regulation of high but not low intensive emotions. Independent of timing, cortisol further improved the effectiveness of cognitive emotion regulation via reappraisal and distraction with respect to high intensive emotions only. In sum, this study provides evidence that cortisol may promote the cognitive control of emotions as a function of stimulus intensity both, 30 and 90 min after treatment. Our work therefore support and extend previous findings emphasizing the crucial role of cortisol mediating stress effects on cognitive emotion regulation processes that may support an adaptive recovery from acute stress states.
The full citation of the new paper is: Langer, K., Jentsch, V.L., Wolf, O.T. (2021). Cortisol promotes the cognitive regulation of high intensive emotions independent of timing. European Journal of Neuroscience, 00:1– 15. https://doi.org/10.1111/ ejn.15182. Our work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation; Project WO 733/15-1).
New paper on the impact of cortisol on cognitive emotion regulation
Acute stress leads to the secretion of the stress hormone cortisol and influences how we experience and react to emotional situations. Previous studies provide evidence for stress-induced beneficial effects on cognitive emotion regulation possibly mediated via cortisol increases. Cortisol can induce fast, non-genomic and slow, genomic effects on cognitive control functions. In this study, we therefore directly compared immediate and delayed effects of oral cortisol administration on the effectiveness to downregulate negative emotions via reappraisal and distraction and additionally explored the role of stimulus intensity. Affective ratings and pupil dilations served as regulatory outcome measures and verified successful regulation of high but not low intensive emotions. Independent of timing, cortisol further improved the effectiveness of cognitive emotion regulation via reappraisal and distraction with respect to high intensive emotions only. In sum, this study provides evidence that cortisol may promote the cognitive control of emotions as a function of stimulus intensity both, 30 and 90 min after treatment. Our work therefore support and extend previous findings emphasizing the crucial role of cortisol mediating stress effects on cognitive emotion regulation processes that may support an adaptive recovery from acute stress states.
The full citation of the new paper is: Langer, K., Jentsch, V.L., Wolf, O.T. (2021). Cortisol promotes the cognitive regulation of high intensive emotions independent of timing. European Journal of Neuroscience, 00:1– 15. https://doi.org/10.1111/ ejn.15182. Our work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation; Project WO 733/15-1).
New paper on the impact of cortisol on the neural correlates of stimulus-based extinction generalization
The generalization of extinction learning constitutes a crucial factor for the success of exposure therapy: While healthy individuals and patients with anxiety disorders easily generalize fear responses, extinction learning is more stimulus specific. Thus, extinction generalization treatments provide the opportunity to counteract stimulus specificity and reduce relapses. Importantly, stress was observed to impair extinction retrieval, arguing for stress as one major challenge for long-term success of exposure therapy. In this fMRI experiment we aimed to create a generalized extinction memory by presenting multiple sized of one conditioned stimulus during extinction training (CS+G; generalized), whereas the other conditioned stimulus was solely presented in its original size (CS+N; non-generalized). During extinction training we observed higher activation in fear-related areas and lower activation in safety-related areas for the CS+G vs CS+N, arguing for prolonged fear processing. However, this pattern reversed during recall: We observed lower activation of fear-related areas for CS+G vs CS+N, arguing for reduced fear expression. In addition, cortisol appeared to block these beneficial effects of extinction generalization on recall. In conclusion, these results suggest that stimulus-based extinction generalization inherits the opportunity to foster extinction learning, hence, reducing return of fear and ultimately reducing relapses. However, stimulus-based extinction generalization is not able to overcome the negative effects of stress on extinction recall.
The new paper Hagedorn B., Wolf O.T. & Merz C.J. (2021). ‘Stimulus-based extinction generalization: Neural correlates and modulation by cortisol.’ has been published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. Our work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation) within the SFB 1280 Extinction Learning (grant number: 316803389 - SFB1280; project A09 (OTW, CJM)).
Anika Pützer successfully defended her PhD
At the IGSN Anika Pützer successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Olfactory cues in associative learning, emotional memory and stress”
Congratulations Anika and all the best!
New paper on the impact of acute stress on cognitive emotion regulation
The ability to successfully downregulate negative emotions is a crucial factor of mental health. Initial studies indicated either impairing or beneficial effects of acute stress on cognitive emotion regulation. In this paper, we investigated whether and how stress and its interactions with sex influence the effectivity of two commonly used emotion regulation strategies – reappraisal and distraction. Our results revealed that acute stress improves emotion regulation success via reappraisal in men indicated by reduced arousal and increased valence and success ratings. Furthermore, stressed men showed a significant increase in pupil diameter after downregulating negative emotions via reappraisal. The boosted expansion of pupil diameter under stress might be indicative for an enhanced cognitive engagement, which may have led to better emotion regulation outcomes. Secretion of the stress hormone cortisol was positively correlated with subjective reappraisal success in men. This suggests that the beneficial effects of stress on cognitive reappraisal might be driven by a glucocorticoid mechanism. Taken together, the results of this paper revealed that acute stress promotes the cognitive engagement to downregulate negative emotions via reappraisal in men resulting in better emotion regulatory outcomes.
The full citation of the new paper is:
Langer, K., Hagedorn, B., Stock, L.-M., Otto, T., Wolf, O.T. & Jentsch, V.L. (2020). Acute stress improves the effectivity of cognitive emotion regulation in men. Scientific Reports, 10(11571). doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68137-5.
Our work on the effects of acute stress on cognitive emotion regulation is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; Project WO 733/15-1).
New paper on the impact of emotion regulation on acute stress reactivity
Successful emotion regulation during stressful events is a key feature of mental health. However, to date, brief laboratory interventions to improve emotion regulation during acute stressors resulted in rather enhanced than reduced cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses. In this paper, we hypothesize that such heightened stress reactivity could result from a mismatch between instructed emotion regulation and a person’s habitual tendency to use the respective strategies in daily life. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to use either cognitive reappraisal or expressive suppression (vs. control) to regulate their emotions during the Trier Social Stress Test and explored whether this experimental manipulation would interact with trait forms of emotion regulation in altering psychological, cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses. We found that habitual reappraisers allocated to the reappraisal group exhibited the steepest decrease in heart rate variability (HRV) during the acute stress phase but also a stronger HRV recovery in the post-stressor phase. Furthermore, they reported enhanced positive affect, whereas participants required to suppress emotions experienced the stressor as more unpleasant and expressed higher cortisol levels than controls. Heightened cortisol reactivity was also found in the reappraisal group, but only for individuals scoring low on trait reappraisal. Together, these results suggest that cognitive reappraisal (but not expressive suppression) fosters psychological adaptation and cardiac vagal flexibility in response to an acute stressor, but also imply that strategy efficacy critically depends on its habitual use in daily life.
The new paper Jentsch, V.L. & Wolf, O.T. (e-pub ahead of print). ‘The impact of emotion regulation on cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and psychological stress responses’ has been published in the journal Biological Psychology.
Our work on cognitive emotion regulation and its impact on stress reactivity is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; Project WO 733/15-1).
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Last update: Dec 21, 2023
