Stress physiology and memory for emotional information: Moderation by individual differences in pubertal hormones

Stress and working memory in children and adolescents: Insights from a multisystem approach

Despite considerable research with adults suggesting that acute stress negatively affects working memory (WM), a core cognitive function, few studies have assessed these effects in youths. Studies that have been conducted have produced null findings, although these studies did not measure stress via multiple systems (e.g., hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis and sympathetic nervous system [SNS]) or include wide developmental age ranges. In the current study, we examined the links between acute stress and WM in 8- to 15-year-olds. Youths completed the Trier Social Stress Test-Modified, during which repeated saliva samples were collected to measure responses of the HPA axis (cortisol) and SNS (salivary alpha-amylase). Immediately afterward, youths completed the n-back task, an established measure of WM. Accuracy and false alarm (FA) scores were computed to explore whether associations between arousal and WM differed when WM versus only the inhibitory control facet of WM processes were considered. Relations varied as a function of age, physiological system, and type of WM process. Accuracy improved and FA scores deceased as age and SNS reactivity increased, particularly in combination. Moreover, when arousal was higher according to only one physiological system (HPA axis or SNS), FA scores were lower, but when arousal was driven by both systems or low in both systems, FA scores were higher. Together, results highlight the need for more complex investigations of stress and WM across development that take into account system-specific responses and multiple facets of WM.

Stress and Learning in Pupils: Neuroscience Evidence and its Relevance for Teachers

Our understanding of how stress affects primary school children's attention and learning has developed rapidly. We know that children experience differing levels of stressors (factors that cause stress) in their environments, and that this can influence how they respond to new stressors when they occur in educational contexts. Here, we review evidence showing that stress can increase children's attention and learning capacities in some circumstances but hinder them in others. We show how children differ in their attention and learning styles, dependent on stress levels: for example, more highly stressed children may be more distracted by superficial features and may find it harder to engage in planning and voluntary control. We review intervention research on stress management techniques in children, concentrating on psychological techniques (such as mindfulness and stress reappraisal), physiological techniques (such as breathing exercises) and environmental factors (such as reducing noise). At the current time, raising teachers' awareness of pupils' differing stress responses will be an important step in accommodating the differing needs of children in their classrooms.

Effects of stress on 6- and 7-year-old children's emotional memory differs by gender

Understanding effects of emotional valence and stress on children's memory is important for educational and legal contexts. This study disentangled the effects of emotional content of to-be-remembered information (i.e., items differing in emotional valence and arousal), stress exposure, and associated cortisol secretion on children's memory. We also examined whether girls' memory is more affected by stress induction. A total of 143 6- and 7-year-old children were randomly allocated to the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (n = 103) or a control condition (n = 40). At 25 min after stressor onset, children incidentally encoded 75 objects varying in emotional valence (crossed with arousal) together with neutral scene backgrounds. We found that response bias corrected memory was worse for low-arousing negative items than for neutral and positive items, with the latter two categories not being different from each other. Whereas boys' memory was largely unaffected by stress, girls in the stress condition showed worse memory for negative items, especially the low-arousing ones, than girls in the control condition. Girls, compared with boys, reported higher subjective stress increases following stress exposure and had higher cortisol stress responses. Whereas a higher cortisol stress response was associated with better emotional memory in girls in the stress condition, boys' memory was not associated with their cortisol secretion. Taken together, our study suggests that 6- and 7-year-old children, more so girls, show memory suppression for negative information. Girls' memory for negative information, compared with that of boys, is also more strongly modulated by stress experience and the associated cortisol response.

Implicit Encouragement: Enhancing Youth Productivity when Recounting a Stressful Experience

In recent years, increasing efforts have been focused on testing strategies of improving victimized children's narrative productivity, given that, for many youth, finding out what has happened to them is crucial to intervening and promoting their well-being. Implicit encouragement strategies, such as back channeling by conversational partners, have shown some preliminary promise, but their precise effects on productivity and accuracy have not been adequately examined. In this study, 98 youth, ages 8-14, completed a laboratory-based stressful activity, and a week later, a surprise memory test regarding what happened in the lab activity. Interviewers varied their use of implicit encouragement. Open-ended recall questions asked youth about both factual details and detail about their feelings and thoughts during the laboratory activity. Implicit encouragement increased the amount of both types of details and had no effect on errors. In fact, few youth provided any incorrect information in their recall reports. Neither age nor stress was related to youth's productivity or accuracy, directly or in conjunction with implicit encouragement. Results highlight the value of interviewers using encouraging behaviors when questioning children and adolescents to elicit a range of information about prior stressful experiences.

Neurobiological mechanisms underlying sex-related differences in stress-related disorders: Effects of neuroactive steroids on the hippocampus

Men and women differ in their vulnerability to a variety of stress-related illnesses, but the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are not well understood. This is likely due to a comparative dearth of neurobiological studies that assess male and female rodents at the same time, while human neuroimaging studies often don't model sex as a variable of interest. These sex differences are often attributed to the actions of sex hormones, i.e. estrogens, progestogens and androgens. In this review, we summarize the results on sex hormone actions in the hippocampus and seek to bridge the gap between animal models and findings in humans. However, while effects of sex hormones on the hippocampus are largely consistent in animals and humans, methodological differences challenge the comparability of animal and human studies on stress effects. We summarise our current understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie sex-related differences in behavior and discuss implications for stress-related illnesses.