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Shields GS, Hunter CL, Trudell EV, Gray ZJ, Perkins BC, Patterson EG, Zalenski PK. Acute stress influences the emotional foundations of executive control: Distinct effects on control-related affective and cognitive processes. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 162:106942. [PMID: 38218000 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2023] [Revised: 10/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
Acute stress is known to influence performance on various task outcomes indicative of executive functioning (i.e., the top-down, goal-directed control of cognition and behavior). The most common interpretation of these effects is that stress influences control processes themselves. Another possibility, though, is that stress does not impair control per se, but instead alters the affective dynamics underlying the recruitment of control (e.g., reducing the extent to which making an error is aversive), resulting in less recruitment of control and thus poor performance. To date, however, no work has examined whether stress effects on executive function outcomes are driven by affective dynamics related to the recruitment of control. In the current study, we found that acute stress influenced-and cortisol responses related to-both executive control-related performance outcomes (e.g., post-error slowing) and control-related affective dynamics (e.g., negative affect following recruitment of control) in a modified Stroop task, but that these effects appeared to be independent of each other: The effects of stress on, and associations of cortisol with, control-related cognitive outcomes were not statistically mediated by task- or control-related affective dynamics. These results thus suggest that although stress influences affective dynamics underlying executive function, the effects of stress on executive function outcomes appear to be at least partially dependent on nonaffective processes, such as control processes themselves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, USA.
| | - Colton L Hunter
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, USA
| | | | - Zach J Gray
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, USA
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Hunter CL, Gray ZJ, Trudell EV, Kennedy LD, Shields GS. Writing about a stressful experience improves semantic clustering of memory in men, not women. Stress Health 2024; 40:e3272. [PMID: 37222270 DOI: 10.1002/smi.3272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Writing about negative experiences can produce multiple benefits, including improvements in mental and emotional health. However, writing about negative experiences potentially be detrimental, as reliving and reexperiencing a negative memory can be painful. Although the emotional effects of writing about negative experiences are well established, the cognitive effects are less heavily explored, and no work to date has examined how writing about a stressful experience might influence episodic memory. We addressed this issue in the present study (N = 520) by having participants encode a list of 16 words that were organised around four semantic clusters, randomly assigning participants to write about an unresolved stressful experience (n = 263) or the events of the previous day (n = 257), and assessing their memory in a free recall task. Writing about a stressful experience did not influence overall memory performance; however, the stressful writing manipulation increased semantic clustering of information within memory for men, whereas the stressful writing manipulation did not influence semantic clustering of information within memory in women. Additionally, writing with more positive sentiment improved semantic clustering and reduced serial recall. These results provide evidence for unique sex differences in writing about stressful experiences and the role of sentiment in the effects of expressive writing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colton L Hunter
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
| | - Zach J Gray
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
| | - Elleona V Trudell
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
| | - Luca D Kennedy
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
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Shields GS, Vinograd M, Bui T, Sichko S, Irwin MR, Slavich GM. Heightened neural activity and functional connectivity responses to social rejection in female adolescents at risk for depression: Testing the Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression. J Affect Disord 2024; 345:467-476. [PMID: 37852590 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.10.113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/15/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although social rejection is among the strongest proximal precipitants of major depressive disorder (MDD), little is known about the underlying neurobiological mechanisms and whether neural sensitivity to social rejection may help explain differences in MDD risk. To address this issue, we tested whether neural responses to social threat differed in female adolescents at high vs. low maternal risk for MDD. METHOD Female adolescents with (high-risk; n = 22, Mage = 14.68) and without (low-risk; n = 30, Mage = 15.07) a maternal history of depression were experimentally exposed to negative and neutral social evaluation while undergoing an fMRI scan. Neural responses were assessed by event-related activity and functional connectivity, as well as multivoxel pattern analysis. Activity and functional connectivity analyses focused on a priori-selected regions of interest implicated in self-referential processing and emotion regulation. RESULTS Compared to low-risk female adolescents, high-risk female adolescents exhibited greater increases in self-reported depression and social disconnection following social evaluation. Moreover, compared to low-risk female adolescents, high-risk female adolescents exhibited greater amygdala responses to negative social evaluation and a differential pattern of functional connectivity in brain regions related to emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and negative affect. Additionally, these markers of neural threat reactivity were related to depressive symptoms. LIMITATIONS A cross-sectional study design and relatively small, Western sample. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that exaggerated neural reactivity to social threat-and an atypical pattern of related functional connectivity-is evident in individuals with a preclinical risk factor for depression. Targeting such responding may thus be a fruitful strategy for preventing depression in at-risk youth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Meghan Vinograd
- Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Theresa Bui
- Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Stassja Sichko
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Michael R Irwin
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Upshaw JD, Shields GS, Judah MR, Zabelina DL. Electrophysiological effects of smartphone notifications on cognitive control following a brief mindfulness induction. Biol Psychol 2024; 185:108725. [PMID: 37993083 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023]
Abstract
Smartphone use is nearly ubiquitous, with 93% of adults among economically developed countries, including the United States, Canada, Israel, and South Korea owning a smartphone (Taylor & Silver, 2019). Multiple studies have demonstrated the distracting effects of smartphone notifications on behavioral measures of cognition. Fewer studies have examined the effects of notifications on neural activity underlying higher-level cognitive processes or behavioral inductions to reduce smartphone-related distraction. Using EEG spectral frequency power densities, we assessed the effects of smartphone notifications (vs. control trials) on engagement of attentional shifting processes involved in cognitive control during a Navon Letter visual oddball task. Participants were randomly assigned to a brief mindfulness induction (N = 44) or a neutral narration control condition (N = 43). Overall, participants had lower theta-band power, but higher alpha- and beta-band power densities on target letter trials preceded by smartphone notifications. Additionally, participants in the mindfulness (vs. control) condition had a larger attention shifting oddball assessed via theta power density and theta/beta ratio (TBR) values-reflecting increased engagement of cognitive control-particularly on smartphone notification (vs. control) trials. Altogether, these results provide evidence supporting the idea that smartphone notifications can decrease activity of neural correlates of cognitive control, and offer the promise of a brief mindfulness induction to buffer against the effects of smartphone notifications on cognitive control. The findings indicate a need for further research on mindfulness inductiosn as a means to reduce potential distraction caused by smartphones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua D Upshaw
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Arkansas, 480 N. Campus Walk, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Arkansas, 480 N. Campus Walk, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - Matt R Judah
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Arkansas, 480 N. Campus Walk, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - Darya L Zabelina
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Arkansas, 480 N. Campus Walk, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
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Shields GS, Hunter CL. A mismatch between early and recent life stress predicts better response inhibition, but not cognitive inhibition. Stress 2024; 27:2341626. [PMID: 38644755 DOI: 10.1080/10253890.2024.2341626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/23/2024] Open
Abstract
A growing body of work has found that a mismatch between early and recent life stress, more than a cumulative influence of stress, contributes to detrimental stress-related health outcomes. To date, however, no work has examined how such a mismatch might relate to stress-related cognitive outcomes. We addressed this gap in the current study by assessing participants' (N = 154, Mage = 18.7, 104 female) early and recent life stress using the same inventory, and subsequently assessing their inhibitory control in a hybrid stop-signal/flanker task. Surprisingly, we found that a greater degree of stressor mismatch was associated with better response inhibition (i.e. smaller stop-signal reaction time) across a number of analytic approaches. Cognitive inhibition (i.e. the flanker interference effect) was not associated with stressor mismatch. These results thus show that a greater degree of mismatch between early and recent life stress is related to response inhibition in the same way as acute stress affects response inhibition, suggesting that response inhibition may be an important cognitive process for navigating both acute stress and general environmental conditions that do not match the conditions in which expected stress occurrence was established.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Colton L Hunter
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
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Delfel E, Hammond A, Shields GS, Moore DJ, Slavich GM, Thames AD. Psychological grit moderates the relation between lifetime stressor exposure and functional outcomes among HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative adults. Stress Health 2023; 39:1058-1071. [PMID: 36997157 PMCID: PMC10544691 DOI: 10.1002/smi.3245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2023] [Indexed: 04/01/2023]
Abstract
The ability to maintain functional independence throughout the lifespan may be diminished among medically compromised and chronically stressed populations. People living with HIV are more likely to demonstrate functional impairment and report greater exposure to lifetime and chronic stressors than their seronegative counterparts. It is well-known that exposure to stressors and adversity is associated with functional impairment outcomes. However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined how protective factors such as psychological grit mitigate the negative effects of lifetime and chronic stressor exposure on functional impairment, and how this association differs by HIV-status. To address this issue, we studied associations between lifetime and chronic stressor exposure, grit, and functional impairment in 176 African American and non-Hispanic White HIV-seropositive (n = 100) and HIV-seronegative (n = 76) adults, aged 24-85 (M = 57.28, SD = 9.02). As hypothesised, HIV-seropositive status and lower grit, but not lifetime stressor exposure, were independently associated with more functional impairment. Moreover, there was a significant three-way interaction between HIV-status, grit, and lifetime stressor exposure, b = 0.07, p = 0.025, 95% CI [0.009, 0.135]. Specifically, lifetime stressor exposure was related to more functional impairment for HIV-seronegative-but not HIV-seropositive-adults who reported low levels of grit. These findings suggest that the protective effects of grit may differ across populations at risk for functional impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Everett Delfel
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA
| | - Andrea Hammond
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA
| | - Grant S. Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
| | - David J. Moore
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA
| | - George M. Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - April D. Thames
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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Modasi J, Khachadourian V, O'Hora K, Kushan L, Slavich GM, Shields GS, Velthorst E, Bearden CE. Associations between acute and chronic lifetime stressors and psychosis-risk symptoms in individuals with 22q11.2 copy number variants. Psychol Med 2023; 53:7222-7231. [PMID: 37078394 PMCID: PMC10719673 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291723000740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Revised: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The 22q11.2 deletion (22q11Del) is among the strongest known genetic risk factors for psychosis. Stress, a known risk factor for psychosis in the general population, has seldom been studied in 22q11Del. We investigated how lifetime stressors related to symptomatic outcomes in patients with 22q11Del. We also explored this association in individuals with 22q11.2 duplications (22q11Dup), which may be potentially protective against psychosis. METHOD One hundred individuals (46 with 22q11Del, 30 with 22q11Dup, and 24 healthy controls; Mage = 17.30 years±10.15) were included. Logistic models were used to examine cross-sectional associations between lifetime acute and chronic stressors (severity and count) and the presence (score ⩾3) of positive, negative, and general symptoms, assessed via the Structured Interview for Psychosis-risk Syndromes (SIPS). RESULTS The 22q11Dup group reported the greatest number and severity of acute lifetime stressors, but did not differ from 22q11Del in chronic stressor count or severity. Lifetime chronic and acute stressors were uniquely associated with positive symptoms in 22q11Del (chronic count: odds ratio [OR] = 2.35, p = 0.02; chronic severity: OR = 1.88, p = 0.03; acute count: OR = 1.78, p = 0.03), but not with negative or general symptoms (ps > 0.05). CONCLUSION Findings suggest that stress may play a role in psychotic symptoms in 22q1Del, while the 22q11Dup CNV appears protective against psychotic symptoms despite higher rates of stressors. Interventions that mitigate effects of stressors in 22qDel may reduce the odds of psychosis in this group. Prospective longitudinal research is needed to replicate these findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasmine Modasi
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Vahe Khachadourian
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kathleen O'Hora
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Interdepartmental Program for Neuroscience, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Leila Kushan
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - George M. Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Grant S. Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Eva Velthorst
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Carrie E. Bearden
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Riddell C, Yonelinas AP, Shields GS. When stress enhances memory encoding: The beneficial effects of changing context. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2023; 205:107836. [PMID: 37820758 PMCID: PMC10909400 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2023.107836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
The effects of acute stress on memory encoding are complex, and we do not yet know all of the conditions that can determine whether stress at encoding improves or impairs memory. Recent work has found that changing contexts between encoding and stress can abolish the effects of post-encoding stress on memory, suggesting that context may play an important role in the effects of stress on memory. However, the role of context in the effects of stress on memory encoding is not yet known. We addressed this gap by examining the effects of context on the influence of acute stress on memory encoding. In a 2 × 2 experimental design, participants (N = 103) completed either a stressor (i.e., Socially Evaluated Cold Presser Test) or control task (i.e., warm water control) before completing a memory encoding task, which occurred in either in the same room as or a different room from the stressor or control task. Memory retrieval was tested for each participant within the context that they completed the encoding task. We found that, relative to nonstressed (i.e., control) participants, stressed participants who switched contexts prior to encoding showed better memory for both negative and neutral images. In contrast, when the stressor or control task occurred in the same room as memory encoding, stress had no beneficial effect on memory. These results highlight the importance of the ongoing context as a determinant of the effects of stress on memory encoding and present a challenge to current theoretical accounts of stress and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cameron Riddell
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Andrew P Yonelinas
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA.
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Abstract
Although exposure to acute stress undoubtedly contributes to psychopathology, most individuals do not develop psychopathology following stress exposure. To explain this, biological, emotional, and cognitive responses to stress have been implicated, but individual differences in executive control (i.e., top-down control of cognition and behavior) measured in response to stress has only recently emerged as a potential factor contributing to psychopathology. In this review, we introduce a model-the integrated model of stress, executive control, and psychopathology-positing how the impairing effects of acute stress on executive control can contribute to psychopathology. We link to research on biological, emotional, and cognitive processes, all of which can be impacted by executive control, to propose a framework for how poorer executive control under conditions of acute stress can contribute to psychopathology. This integrated model is intended to further our understanding of who is more susceptible to the negative consequences of stress.
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Hunter CL, Shields GS. (A lack of) effects of acute social stress on attentional bias to threat. Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol 2023; 15:100195. [PMID: 37554554 PMCID: PMC10405195 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2023.100195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 07/18/2023] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Attentional biases toward or away from emotionally evocative stimuli have been well documented and are known to be clinically relevant, making it important to understand how various factors contribute to them. Some work has suggested that acute stress modulates attentional biases, but this work has produced inconsistent results. For example, many studies have found that stress enhances attentional bias, others that stress decreases attentional bias, and others still that there is no effect of stress at all. Methodological differences may explain these inconsistencies. For example, discrepancies exist between studies in participant sex (e.g., mixed sample vs. all men) and in the type of attentional bias paradigm. We addressed these gaps by examining the effects of an acute social stressor (vs. control) on attentional bias assessed via facial dot probe, focusing on potential sex differences in these effects (N = 141). We found that, overall, participants were significantly biased towards threat, but biases did not differ by stress condition or sex. These findings help to clarify the existing discrepancy in the literature, as we found that stress exerts little if any effect on attentional bias assessed via a facial dot probe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colton L. Hunter
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, USA
| | - Grant S. Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, USA
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Clay JM, Baker KA, Mezabrovschi RD, Berti G, Shields GS, Slavich GM, Stafford LD, Parker MO. Mediated and moderated associations between cumulative lifetime stressor exposure, emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and lifetime alcohol use: A cross-sectional scoping study of UK drinkers. J Psychiatr Res 2023; 164:140-149. [PMID: 37352810 PMCID: PMC10754206 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Revised: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
Stress, trait impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation are independent predictors of alcohol use and misuse, but little is known about the potential mechanisms that link these risk factors together. To address this issue, we carried out an exploratory cross-sectional study, on UK-based participants. Our preregistered, hypothesised theoretical framework was that emotional dysregulation mediates the association between cumulative lifetime stressor exposure and lifetime alcohol use. We also hypothesised that heightened impulsivity would strengthen these relations. As hypothesised, emotional dysregulation fully mediated the relation between cumulative lifetime stressor exposure and lifetime alcohol use. Several facets of impulsivity moderated these associations. For example, as levels of negative urgency increased, the associations between cumulative lifetime stressor exposure and emotional dysregulation, emotional dysregulation and lifetime alcohol use, and lifetime stress exposure and lifetime alcohol use, via emotional dysregulation, strengthened. These preliminary findings propose a theoretically framed model which integrates several prominent risk-factors for alcohol misuse, extending prior research and generating interesting and novel lines of enquiry for longitudinal and cross-cultural analyses. The findings also highlight the potential clinical utility of screening for lifetime stress exposure while tailoring personalised treatment interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M Clay
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, UK; Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada.
| | - Kiera A Baker
- School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
| | | | - Giacomo Berti
- School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
| | | | - Matthew O Parker
- School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK; Surrey Sleep Research Centre, School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
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Burani K, Brush CJ, Shields GS, Klein DN, Nelson B, Slavich GM, Hajcak G. Cumulative lifetime acute stressor exposure interacts with reward responsiveness to predict longitudinal increases in depression severity in adolescence. Psychol Med 2023; 53:4507-4516. [PMID: 37698514 PMCID: PMC10388334 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291722001386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Life stress and blunted reward processing each have been associated with the onset and maintenance of major depressive disorder. However, much of this work has been cross-sectional, conducted in separate lines of inquiry, and focused on recent life stressor exposure, despite the fact that theories of depression posit that stressors can have cumulative effects over the lifespan. To address these limitations, we investigated whether acute and chronic stressors occurring over the lifespan interacted with blunted reward processing to predict increases in depression over time in healthy youth. METHOD Participants were 245 adolescent girls aged 8-14 years old (Mage = 12.4, s.d. = 1.8) who were evaluated at baseline and two years later. The reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential measure of reward responsiveness, was assessed at baseline using the doors task. Cumulative lifetime exposure to acute and chronic stressors was assessed two years later using the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adolescents (Adolescent STRAIN). Finally, depressive symptoms were assessed at both baseline and follow-up using the Children's Depression Inventory. RESULTS As hypothesized, greater lifetime acute stressor exposure predicted increases in depressive symptoms over two years, but only for youth exhibiting a blunted RewP. This interaction, however, was not found for chronic stressors. CONCLUSIONS Lifetime acute stressor exposure may be particularly depressogenic for youth exhibiting a blunted RewP. Conversely, a robust RewP may be protective in the presence of greater acute lifetime stressor exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kreshnik Burani
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - C. J. Brush
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Grant S. Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Daniel N. Klein
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Brady Nelson
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - George M. Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Greg Hajcak
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
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Raio CM, Lu BB, Grubb M, Shields GS, Slavich GM, Glimcher P. Author Correction: Cumulative lifetime stressor exposure assessed by the STRAIN predicts economic ambiguity aversion. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3558. [PMID: 37322231 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39380-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Candace M Raio
- Department of Psychiatry, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Benjamin B Lu
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Michael Grubb
- Department of Psychology, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, USA
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Paul Glimcher
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
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Wu Q, Xia H, Shields GS, Nie H, Li J, Chen H, Yang Y. Neural correlates underlying preference changes induced by food Go/No-Go training. Appetite 2023; 186:106578. [PMID: 37150052 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2023.106578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2023] [Revised: 04/09/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Consistently not responding to appetitive foods during food go/no-go training could change individuals' food choices and sometimes even body weight, however, fewer studies have explored the neural pathways underlying the effects of food go/no-go training. In this study, we scanned eighty-six female participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging and investigated the neural bases of preference changes in a binary food choice task following action (e.g., go) or inaction (e.g., no-go) toward distinct foods within a food go/no-go training paradigm. In line with prior behavioral work, we found that participants' food preferences changed as a function of food go/no-go training, with participants choosing more "go" over "no-go" foods for consumption following training. At a neural level, preference changes were inversely associated with frontoparietal and salience network activity when choosing go (vs. no-go) foods. Additionally, task-related functional connectivities from the inferior parietal lobule to the pre-supplementary motor cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex were related to these preference changes. Together, current work supports that food go/no-go training reliably changes people's preferences. More importantly, our findings suggest that a neural pathway centered on areas traditionally associated with selective attention may interface with prefrontal regions to guide preference changes induced by food go/no-go training, though future studies using other tasks (e.g., passive viewing tasks) are still needed to test this potential neural mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Wu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Haishuo Xia
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Haoyu Nie
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Jiwen Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Hong Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China; Research Center of Psychology and Social Development, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, 400715, China.
| | - Yingkai Yang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
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15
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Shields GS, Fassett-Carman A, Gray ZJ, Gonzales JE, Snyder HR, Slavich GM. Why is subjective stress severity a stronger predictor of health than stressor exposure? A preregistered two-study test of two hypotheses. Stress Health 2023; 39:87-102. [PMID: 35599238 PMCID: PMC10243213 DOI: 10.1002/smi.3165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Subjective stress severity appraisals have consistently emerged as better predictors of poor health than stressor exposure, but the reason for this is unclear. Subjective stress may better predict poor health for one of at least two reasons. First, because stressor exposure measures consider all stressors as equal, stress severity measures-which "weight" stressors by self-reported severity-might better predict poor health simply by not treating all stressors as being equally impactful. Second, subjective stress appraisals may index important individual differences in stress vulnerability. We tested these two possibilities in this preregistered, two-study manuscript. Across these two different studies, subjective stress severity was a better predictor of poor health than independently weighted stress severity or stressor exposure. These results demonstrate that, beyond weighting of stressful experiences, subjective stress severity indexes health-relevant individual differences. Moreover, the results suggest that subjective stress severity may be the preferred stress summary metric even when derived from imprecise stress assessment instruments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Zach J. Gray
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas
| | - Joseph E. Gonzales
- Department of Psychology and Center for Women and Work, University of Massachusetts Lowell
| | - Hannah R. Snyder
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, Brandeis University
| | - George M. Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
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16
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Murphy MLM, Sichko S, Bui TQ, Libowitz MR, Shields GS, Slavich GM. Intergenerational transmission of lifetime stressor exposure in adolescent girls at differential maternal risk for depression. J Clin Psychol 2023; 79:431-448. [PMID: 35869956 PMCID: PMC9851932 DOI: 10.1002/jclp.23417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2021] [Revised: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 06/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Adolescent girls who grow up with mothers who are depressed are themselves highly vulnerable to developing depression (i.e., "intergenerational transmission of depression"). Stressor exposure is a strong risk factor for depression, and the transmission of depression risk from mothers to daughters is partly due to mothers experiencing more stressors, increasing daughters' stressor burden. However, research in this area has only assessed recent stressors, making the role of cumulative lifetime stressors unclear. METHOD To address this issue, we recruited 52 dyads of mothers and adolescent daughters, of which 22 daughters were at high maternal risk for depression. Participants completed diagnostic interviews, and daughters additionally self-reported their depressive symptoms. Participants also completed the Stress and Adversity Inventory, a new-generation instrument for assessing cumulative lifetime history of acute and chronic stressors based on the contextual threat approach. We tested moderated mediation models evaluating the conditional indirect effects of mothers' lifetime stressors on high- versus low-risk daughters' depressive symptoms through daughters' lifetime stressors. RESULTS As hypothesized, mothers of high-risk (but not low-risk) adolescent daughters who reported more lifetime acute stressors had daughters who reported more lifetime acute stressors and current depressive symptoms. Moreover, this finding was driven specifically by mothers' stressors occurring after their daughters' births. There was also tentative evidence that high-risk daughters' lifetime chronic stressors potentiated the impact of daughters' acute stressors on their depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION These findings provide new insights into how stressful contexts are transmitted intergenerationally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael L M Murphy
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA
| | - Stassja Sichko
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Theresa Q Bui
- Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Mark R Libowitz
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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17
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Toussaint L, Lee JA, Hyun MH, Shields GS, Slavich GM. Forgiveness, rumination, and depression in the United States and Korea: A cross-cultural mediation study. J Clin Psychol 2023; 79:143-157. [PMID: 35700333 DOI: 10.1002/jclp.23376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2021] [Revised: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Although substantial research has separately investigated forgiveness, rumination, and depression in the United States, few studies have investigated all three constructs in the same sample and we know of no studies that have examined how forgiveness, rumination, and depression are interrelated across cultures. METHOD To address this issue, we conducted a cross-cultural study wherein 204 and 297 healthy young adults from Korea and the United States, respectively, completed the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, Ruminative Response Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory-II. RESULTS Compared to US participants, Korean participants exhibited more forgiveness, similar levels of rumination, and slightly more depression. Two-group structural equation models revealed that forgiveness was directly related to depressive symptoms, and that forgiveness was indirectly related to depressive symptoms through rumination, in both the United States (proportion mediated = 0.363) and Korea (proportion mediated = 0.394). This indirect association did not differ across cultures. CONCLUSION Considered together, these results suggest that forgiveness appears to have beneficial effects on depression that are mediated through forgiveness-related reductions in rumination, and, importantly, that these effects are similar across cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loren Toussaint
- Department of Psychology, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, USA
| | - Jiahn A Lee
- Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Myoung Ho Hyun
- Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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18
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Burani K, Brush CJ, Shields GS, Klein DN, Nelson BD, Slavich GM, Hajcak G. Greater Cumulative Lifetime Stressor Exposure Predicts Blunted Reward Positivity in Adolescent Girls Followed for 2 Years. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 2022; 7:1017-1024. [PMID: 35688415 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although research has found that life stress is associated with reward-related brain activity, few studies have examined how cumulative stressors occurring over the entire lifetime affect reward processing during adolescence. METHODS To address this issue, we investigated how lifetime stressor exposure related to reward processing, indexed by the reward positivity, in 240 adolescent girls between ages 8 and 14 years (mean age = 12.4). Participants were followed for 2 years. They completed a reward task at baseline and follow-up and the Stress and Adversity Inventory at follow-up. RESULTS As hypothesized, greater lifetime stressor exposure was related to a blunted reward positivity at the follow-up session while controlling for baseline age, baseline reward positivity, and time between assessments. Furthermore, this association was evident for acute but not chronic lifetime stressors. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that the development of adaptive reward processing may be adversely affected by experiencing major life stressors. The results may thus have implications for understanding how stressors increase risk for psychopathology, such as major depressive disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kreshnik Burani
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida.
| | | | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas
| | - Daniel N Klein
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
| | - Brady D Nelson
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
| | - George M Slavich
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
| | - Greg Hajcak
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
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19
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Yang Y, Shields GS, Zhang Y, Wu H, Chen H, Romer AL. Child executive function and future externalizing and internalizing problems: A meta-analysis of prospective longitudinal studies. Clin Psychol Rev 2022; 97:102194. [PMID: 35964337 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Revised: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
To determine the association between executive function and later externalizing and internalizing problems, we conducted a meta-analysis of 167 studies (1098 effect sizes, total N = 66,119) that explored the longitudinal associations between executive functions in children and subsequent externalizing and internalizing problems. The results indicated that greater child executive function was prospectively associated with fewer attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, fewer conduct problems, fewer oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, less substance use, fewer broad externalizing problems, fewer depression symptoms, and fewer broad internalizing problems, but not with subsequent anxiety symptoms. Moderator analyses revealed that the sample type moderated the associations of executive function with both ADHD symptoms and conduct problems. Age of assessment moderated the association with broad externalizing problems, and executive function context moderated associations with both substance use and broad internalizing problems. These findings suggest that executive function in children prospectively predicts numerous externalizing and internalizing behaviors, suggesting that executive function may be an important target for psychopathology prevention programs and interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingkai Yang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Yaoyao Zhang
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Huimin Wu
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Hong Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Adrienne L Romer
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.; Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
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20
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Banica I, Sandre A, Shields GS, Slavich GM, Weinberg A. Associations between lifetime stress exposure and the error-related negativity (ERN) differ based on stressor characteristics and exposure timing in young adults. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 2022; 22:672-689. [PMID: 33821458 PMCID: PMC8490486 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-021-00883-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/20/2021] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Life stress increases risk for multiple forms of psychopathology, in part by altering neural processes involved in performance monitoring. However, the ways in which these stress-cognition effects are influenced by the specific timing and types of life stressors experienced remains poorly understood. To address this gap, we examined how different social-psychological characteristics and developmental timing of stressors are related to the error-related negativity (ERN), a negative-going deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) waveform that is observed from 0 to 100 ms following error commission. A sample of 203 emerging adults performed an ERN-eliciting arrow flanker task and completed an interview-based measure of lifetime stress exposure. Adjusting for stress severity during other developmental periods, there was a small-to-medium effect of stress on performance monitoring, such that more severe total stress exposure, as well as more severe social-evaluative stress in particular, experienced during early adolescence significantly predicted an enhanced ERN. These results suggest that early adolescence may be a sensitive developmental period during which stress exposure may result in lasting adaptations to neural networks implicated in performance monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iulia Banica
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, 2001 McGill College Avenue, Montréal, Québec, H3A 1G1, Canada
| | - Aislinn Sandre
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, 2001 McGill College Avenue, Montréal, Québec, H3A 1G1, Canada
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Anna Weinberg
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, 2001 McGill College Avenue, Montréal, Québec, H3A 1G1, Canada.
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21
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Gray ZJ, Shields GS, Sichko S, Bui TQ, Vinograd M, Olvera-Alvarez HA, Slavich GM. Neural and peripheral markers of reward during positive social evaluation are associated with less clinician-rated depression symptom severity in adolescence. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology 2022; 11:100149. [PMID: 35856064 PMCID: PMC9287766 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2022.100149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2022] [Revised: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Although blunted sensitivity to reward is thought to play a key role in promoting risk for depression, most research on this topic has utilized monetary reward paradigms and focused on currently depressed adults. To address this issue, we analyzed neural reward and β-endorphin data from the Psychobiology of Stress and Adolescent Depression (PSY SAD) Study, which recruited a well-characterized sample of adolescent girls at high vs. low risk for major depressive disorder (MDD) (N = 52, Mage = 14.90, SD = 1.35) based on their mothers’ lifetime history of MDD. As hypothesized, greater striatal activity while receiving positive (vs. neutral) social evaluation was associated with lower depression symptom severity as independently assessed by the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS). This association was present for girls at high but not low risk for MDD, suggesting that this neural response may represent a pre-clinical marker of risk for depression. Consistent with these results, higher post-social evaluation levels of a peripheral marker of reward sensitivity, β-endorphin, were related to lower clinician-rated depression symptom severity. Together, these results indicate that neural and peripheral markers of responsivity to social reward are both related to depression severity, which may have implications for understanding the pathophysiology of depression. The neurobiological reward processes underlying adolescent depression risk are unclear. To address this issue, we recruited adolescent girls at high vs. low risk for MDD. We assessed their striatal activity, β-endorphin levels, & depression symptom severity. Striatal activity & β-endorphin levels during social evaluation predicted depression severity. These effects differed for high-vs. low-risk youth, suggesting pre-clinical risk biomarkers.
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22
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Álvarez-López MJ, Conklin QA, Cosín-Tomás M, Shields GS, King BG, Zanesco AP, Kaliman P, Saron CD. Changes in the expression of inflammatory and epigenetic-modulatory genes after an intensive meditation retreat. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology 2022; 11:100152. [PMID: 35818436 PMCID: PMC9270205 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2022.100152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2022] [Revised: 06/12/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Meditation retreats are characterized by intensive or concentrated periods of meditation practice, commonly undertaken in a residential setting. Although research indicates that meditation training can positively influence physical and mental health outcomes, the biological consequences of meditation retreat interventions are relatively understudied. In this study, we examined the influence of a month-long, silent meditation retreat on the expression of genes involved in epigenetic modulation and immune processes. Method We assessed gene expression changes in experienced meditators attending a month-long Insight meditation retreat (n = 28), as compared to a community control group (n = 34) of experienced practitioners living their everyday lives. Blood samples were collected on day two of the retreat (Time 1) and again 3 weeks later (Time 2). Control participants were also assessed across a 3-week interval, during which they maintained their regular daily routines. Results As compared to controls, retreat participants showed differential changes in the expression of several genes involved in chromatin modulation and inflammation. The most substantive finding was downregulation of the TNF pathway in retreat participants, which was not observed in controls. Conclusions These findings indicate that meditation retreat participation may influence some of the inflammatory mechanisms involved in the development of chronic diseases, and that this style of psychosocial intervention may have therapeutic potential, particularly in experienced practitioners. Meditation retreat downregulated the TNF-a pathway, indicating lower inflammation. Retreat was associated with gene expression patterns consistent with lower inflammation. Retreats may offer a nonpharmacological approach to reducing inflammation.
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23
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Alen NV, Shields GS, Nemer A, D'Souza IA, Ohlgart MJ, Hostinar CE. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between parenting and child autonomic nervous system activity. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 139:104734. [PMID: 35716874 PMCID: PMC11023739 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2021] [Revised: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Parental socialization may influence the development of children's autonomic nervous system (ANS), a key stress-response system. However, to date no quantitative synthesis of the literature linking parenting and child ANS physiology has been conducted. To address this gap, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis. A systematic review of the literature identified 103 studies (n = 13,044 participants) with available effect sizes describing the association between parenting and either parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) or sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity in children. The overall analysis revealed non-significant associations between parenting and child ANS physiology on average. However, moderation analyses revealed a positive association between more positive parenting and higher resting PNS activity that was stronger when a study was experimental rather than correlational, and when the sample included children with a clinical condition. In conclusion, well-controlled experimental studies show that positive parenting is associated with the development of higher resting PNS activity, an effect that may be stronger among children who are at elevated developmental risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas V Alen
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, USA; Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Trier, Germany
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, USA; Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - Adele Nemer
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, USA
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24
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Hamlat EJ, Laraia B, Bleil ME, Deardorff J, Tomiyama AJ, Mujahid M, Shields GS, Brownell K, Slavich GM, Epel ES. Effects of Early Life Adversity on Pubertal Timing and Tempo in Black and White Girls: The National Growth and Health Study. Psychosom Med 2022; 84:297-305. [PMID: 35067653 PMCID: PMC8976748 DOI: 10.1097/psy.0000000000001048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Although exposure to abuse in early life predicts earlier pubertal timing, especially for girls, it is unclear if this association generalizes to nonabuse stressors. In addition, the impact of race on the stress-maturation association remains unknown. To address these issues, we examined whether race moderates the effects of early adversity on pubertal timing and tempo using a longitudinal study design. METHODS In a cohort of 9- and 10-year-old Black and White girls, pubertal (areolar and pubic hair) maturation was assessed annually for 7 years. In adulthood, 368 participants (186 Black, 182 White) reported on abuse and nonabuse stressors they experienced from ages 0 to 12 years. RESULTS Early life abuse was associated with earlier pubertal timing, as indexed by younger age at menarche (b = -0.22, p = .005, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.39 to -0.06) and greater pubic hair development (b = 0.11, p = .003, 95% CI = 0.04 to 0.18), in addition to slower pubertal tempo, as indexed by slower rate of pubic hair (b = -0.03, p < .001, 95% CI = -0.05 to -0.01) and areolar (b = -0.02, p = .02, 95% CI = -0.03 to -0.003) development. These associations were not found for nonabuse adversity. Black girls with early life abuse had greater pubic hair development (b = 0.23, p < .001, 95% CI = 0.12 to 0.35) and were slower in pubic hair tempo (b = -0.07, p < .001, 95% CI = -0.09 to -0.04) than their White counterparts. CONCLUSIONS Screening for early life abuse may help address health disparities related to earlier pubertal timing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elissa J. Hamlat
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco
| | - Barbara Laraia
- School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - George M. Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
| | - Elissa S. Epel
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco
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25
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Shields GS, Hunter CL, Yonelinas AP. Stress and memory encoding: What are the roles of the stress-encoding delay and stress relevance? Learn Mem 2022; 29:48-54. [PMID: 35042828 PMCID: PMC8774196 DOI: 10.1101/lm.053469.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2021] [Accepted: 11/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
The effects of acute stress on memory encoding are complex. Recent work has suggested that both the delay between stress and encoding and the relevance of the information learned to the stressor may modulate the effects of stress on memory encoding, but the relative contribution of each of these two factors is unclear. Therefore, in the present study, we manipulated (1) acute stress, (2) the delay between stress and encoding, and (3) the relevance of the information learned to the stressor. The results indicated that stress during encoding led to better memory for study materials that were related to the stressor relative to memory for study materials that were unrelated to the stressor. This effect was numerically reduced for materials that were encoded 40 min after stressor onset (23 min after the stressor had ended) compared with items encoded at the time of the stressor, but this difference was not significant. These results suggest that the relevance of the information learned to the stressor may play a particularly important role in the effects of stress on memory encoding, which has important implications for theories of stress and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S. Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA
| | - Colton L. Hunter
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA
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26
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Hunter CL, Shields GS. Mediators of the associations between family income during adolescence and adult long-term memory and working memory. Cognitive Development 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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27
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Sichko S, Bui TQ, Vinograd M, Shields GS, Saha K, Devkota S, Olvera-Alvarez HA, Carroll JE, Cole SW, Irwin MR, Slavich GM. Psychobiology of Stress and Adolescent Depression (PSY SAD) Study: Protocol overview for an fMRI-based multi-method investigation. Brain Behav Immun Health 2021; 17:100334. [PMID: 34595481 PMCID: PMC8478351 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2021] [Revised: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 08/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Depression is a common, often recurrent disorder that causes substantial disease burden worldwide, and this is especially true for women following the pubertal transition. According to the Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression, stressors involving social stress and rejection, which frequently precipitate major depressive episodes, induce depressive symptoms in vulnerable individuals in part by altering the activity and connectivity of stress-related neural pathways, and by upregulating components of the immune system involved in inflammation. To test this theory, we recruited adolescent females at high and low risk for depression and assessed their psychological, neural, inflammatory, and genomic responses to a brief (10 minute) social stress task, in addition to trait psychological and microbial factors affecting these responses. We then followed these adolescents longitudinally to investigate how their multi-level stress responses at baseline were related to their biological aging at baseline, and psychosocial and clinical functioning over one year. In this protocol paper, we describe the theoretical motivations for conducting this study as well as the sample, study design, procedures, and measures. Ultimately, our aim is to elucidate how social adversity influences the brain and immune system to cause depression, one of the most common and costly of all disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stassja Sichko
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Theresa Q. Bui
- Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Meghan Vinograd
- Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, and Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Grant S. Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Krishanu Saha
- Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Suzanne Devkota
- Department of Medicine, F. Widjaja Foundation Inflammatory Bowel and Immunobiology Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Judith E. Carroll
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Steven W. Cole
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Michael R. Irwin
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - George M. Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Moseley RL, Turner-Cobb JM, Spahr CM, Shields GS, Slavich GM. Lifetime and perceived stress, social support, loneliness, and health in autistic adults. Health Psychol 2021; 40:556-568. [PMID: 34618502 PMCID: PMC8513810 DOI: 10.1037/hea0001108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Although the health consequences of life stress exposure in the general population are well known, how different stressors occurring over the lifetime cause morbidity and mortality in autism is unclear, as are the factors that moderate and mediate these associations. The few studies that have compared autistic and nonautistic individuals have used instruments that yield few stress exposure indices and assess stressors occurring over short time periods. METHOD To address these issues, we used the Stress and Adversity Inventory to assess lifetime stressor exposure and perceived stressor severity in 127 autistic and 104 nonautistic adults. Moderated mediation analysis examined associations between stressor exposure and physical and mental ill-health with respect to the hypothesized mediating role of stressor perception, and moderation effects of loneliness and social support. RESULTS Autistic adults experienced more lifetime stressors and generally perceived stressors as being more severe. Greater perceived stressor severity was related to poorer physical and mental health and to greater loneliness and lower social support for both groups. An additional post hoc analysis of the association between diagnostic status and mental ill-health revealed that loneliness mediated the relation between being autistic and having poorer mental health. CONCLUSION Autistic individuals experienced more lifetime stressors, and their impact on physical and mental health was mediated by perceived stressor severity. Moreover, loneliness and low social support were associated with greater negative impact of lifetime stress exposure on mental health. Interventions that reduce cognitive-perceptual stress appraisals, and that target loneliness and social support, may help reduce risk for stress-related disease in autistic individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Chandler M. Spahr
- Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Grant S. Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Arkansas, USA
| | - George M. Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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Deer LK, Shields GS, Alen NV, Hostinar CE. Curvilinear associations between family income in early childhood and the cortisol awakening response in adolescence. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2021; 129:105237. [PMID: 34004490 PMCID: PMC9286487 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2020] [Revised: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Previous evidence on cortisol output and socioeconomic status (SES) has been mixed, with studies finding that lower SES can be associated with higher or lower cortisol output, and null associations have also been reported. We hypothesized that these inconsistencies may be due to an underlying curvilinear, inverted-U pattern of association, such that low income is related to increased likelihood of both low and high cortisol output. We tested these curvilinear links among family income and cortisol indices in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 803). Maternal reports of family income when the study children were 33 and 47 months of age were averaged to estimate early-childhood family income. Three cortisol indices were derived from samples collected in adolescence (15.5 years of age): the cortisol awakening response (CAR), area under the curve (AUC) cortisol, and the diurnal cortisol slope. As hypothesized, the CAR exhibited a curvilinear, inverted-U relation with childhood income, with low childhood income being associated with both the lowest and the highest CARs. These findings suggest that discrepancies in prior findings on low SES and the CAR may be due to curvilinear patterns of association. However, childhood income was not significantly associated with adolescent cortisol diurnal slope or AUC. Future work should clarify the factors that might predispose to high versus low CAR given equivalent low SES in childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- LillyBelle K Deer
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
| | - Grant S Shields
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Nicholas V Alen
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Camelia E Hostinar
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
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Cooper JA, Nuutinen MR, Lawlor VM, DeVries BAM, Barrick EM, Hossein S, Cole DJ, Leonard CV, Hahn EC, Teer AP, Shields GS, Slavich GM, Ongur D, Jensen JE, Du F, Pizzagalli DA, Treadway MT. Reduced adaptation of glutamatergic stress response is associated with pessimistic expectations in depression. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3166. [PMID: 34039978 PMCID: PMC8155144 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23284-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Stress is a significant risk factor for the development of major depressive disorder (MDD), yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Preclinically, adaptive and maladaptive stress-induced changes in glutamatergic function have been observed in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Here, we examine stress-induced changes in human mPFC glutamate using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in two healthy control samples and a third sample of unmedicated participants with MDD who completed the Maastricht acute stress task, and one sample of healthy control participants who completed a no-stress control manipulation. In healthy controls, we find that the magnitude of mPFC glutamate response to the acute stressor decreases as individual levels of perceived stress increase. This adaptative glutamate response is absent in individuals with MDD and is associated with pessimistic expectations during a 1-month follow-up period. Together, this work shows evidence for glutamatergic adaptation to stress that is significantly disrupted in MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Elyssa M Barrick
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Shabnam Hossein
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Daniel J Cole
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | | | - Emma C Hahn
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Andrew P Teer
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Dost Ongur
- Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - J Eric Jensen
- McLean Imaging Center, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Fei Du
- McLean Imaging Center, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Diego A Pizzagalli
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
- McLean Imaging Center, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA
| | - Michael T Treadway
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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Shields GS, Hostinar CE, Vilgis V, Forbes EE, Hipwell AE, Keenan K, Guyer AE. Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis Activity in Childhood Predicts Emotional Memory Effects and Related Neural Circuitry in Adolescent Girls. J Cogn Neurosci 2021; 33:872-886. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Negative emotional experiences can be more difficult to forget than neutral ones, a phenomenon termed the “emotional memory effect.” Individual differences in the strength of the emotional memory effect are associated with emotional health. Thus, understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of the emotional memory effect has important implications, especially for individuals at risk for emotional health problems. Although the neural basis of emotional memory effects has been relatively well defined, less is known about how hormonal factors that can modulate emotional memory, such as glucocorticoids, relate to that neural basis. Importantly, probing the role of glucocorticoids in the stress- and emotion-sensitive period of late childhood to adolescence could provide actionable points of intervention. We addressed this gap by testing whether hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity during a parent–child conflict task at 11 years of age predicted emotional memory and its primary neural circuitry (i.e., amygdala–hippocampus functional connectivity) at 16 years of age in a longitudinal study of 147 girls (104 with complete data). Results showed that lower HPA axis activity predicted stronger emotional memory effects, r(124) = −.236, p < .01, and higher emotional memory-related functional connectivity between the right hippocampus and the right amygdala, β = −.385, p < .001. These findings suggest that late childhood HPA axis activity may modulate the neural circuitry of emotional memory effects in adolescence, which may confer a potential risk trajectory for emotional health among girls.
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Abstract
Overweight and obesity constitute the fifth leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. One pathway through which excess weight contributes to poor health outcomes is via inflammatory activity and changes in cognitive processes. Prior theory has proposed a vicious cycle whereby obesity potentiates inflammatory activity, which alters cognitive processes such as working memory, which in turn leads to a reduced ability to self-regulate and therefore manage weight. However, to date no longitudinal studies have examined this potential dynamic. In the current study, we addressed this gap by assessing the relations among fat mass, C-reactive protein (CRP), and working memory across time in a large sample of 8536 children followed through adolescence in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children in the United Kingdom. Adiposity was quantified via dual emission x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) at ages 9 and 15.5 years old, and inflammatory activity was indexed via circulating serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels assessed with a high-sensitivity assay at those same ages. Working memory was assessed between these two time points, at age 10, permitting examination of the temporal relations between working memory, adiposity, and inflammatory activity. As hypothesized, we found that fat mass predicted later poor working memory, and this association was statistically mediated by CRP. Further, we found that poor working memory predicted greater subsequent fat mass and CRP, and the link between working memory and subsequent CRP was partially mediated by fat mass. These results thus could be taken to suggest the existence of a vicious cycle of mutually amplifying adiposity, inflammatory activity, and poor working memory over time. Adiposity and inflammatory activity (CRP) was measured at ages 9 and 15.5 yrs. Working memory was assessed at age 10 yrs. Adiposity predicted working memory, and this association was mediated by CRP. Working memory predicted later adiposity and CRP, this was mediated by adiposity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S. Shields
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - LillyBelle K. Deer
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Paul D. Hastings
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Camelia E. Hostinar
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
- Corresponding author. Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
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Malat J, Johns-Wolfe E, Smith T, Shields GS, Jacquez F, Slavich GM. Associations between lifetime stress exposure, race, and first-birth intendedness in the United States. J Health Psychol 2020; 27:765-777. [PMID: 33111552 DOI: 10.1177/1359105320963210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
This study examined how lifetime stress exposure and race are associated with first-birth intendedness, and whether these associations differ based on stress exposure timing. Greater lifetime stress exposure was related to increased first-birth intendedness for black women but was unrelated or even associated with decreased first-birth intendedness for white women, depending on stress exposure timing. These effects were robust while controlling for age, partner status, household income, and education, and they differed based on the timing of participants' stress exposure. These data thus provide evidence that first-birth intendedness is influenced by both lifetime stress exposure and race in the United States.
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Abstract
Stress exposure is central to theories of suicide. To advance understanding of the relation between stress and suicide, we examined whether specific, theoretically-pertinent life stressors were differentially related to suicidal thinking versus suicidal behaviors among hospitalized adolescents. Participants were 197 (144 female) adolescents aged 13 to 19 years old (M = 15.61, SD = 1.48) recruited from an acute residential psychiatric treatment program. Participants were categorized into mutually exclusive groups: psychiatric controls (n = 38) with no lifetime history of suicide ideation or suicide attempts, suicide ideators (n = 99) with current ideation and no lifetime attempts, and suicide attempters (n = 60) with a lifetime history of suicide ideation and at least one attempt in the past month. Adolescents completed the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adolescents (Adolescent STRAIN), which assessed life events and chronic difficulties occurring in five social-psychological categories: Interpersonal Loss, Physical Danger, Humiliation, Entrapment, and Role Change/Disruption. Additionally, they completed a structured interview and symptom questionnaires to capture concurrent psychopathology. Controlling for demographic and clinical covariates, only Interpersonal Loss events distinguished attempters from psychiatric controls (OR = 2.27) and ideators (OR = 1.49); no events or difficulties differentiated ideators from controls. These effects persisted when analyses were restricted to single attempters and when events following the most recent attempt were excluded. The findings elucidate potential social-environmental triggers of suicide. Ultimately, this may improve the identification of ideators most likely to make an attempt, enabling the deployment of targeted early interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy G Stewart
- Department of Psychology, Queen's University, 62 Arch Street, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6, Canada.
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Erika C Esposito
- Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, P.O. Box 270266, Rochester, NY, 14627-0266, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Cosby
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.,McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA, 02478-9106, USA
| | - Nicholas B Allen
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, 1227 University Street, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, UCLA Medical Plaza 300, Room 3156, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-7076, USA
| | - Randy P Auerbach
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY, 10032, USA.,Division of Clinical Developmental Neuroscience, Sackler Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY, 10032, USA
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Abstract
IMPORTANCE Recent estimates suggest that more than 50% of all deaths worldwide are currently attributable to inflammation-related diseases. Psychosocial interventions may represent a potentially useful strategy for addressing this global public health problem, but which types of interventions reliably improve immune system function, under what conditions, and for whom are unknown. OBJECTIVE To address this issue, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) in which we estimated associations between 8 different psychosocial interventions and 7 markers of immune system function, and examined 9 potential moderating factors. DATA SOURCES PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were systematically searched from February 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018, for all relevant RCTs published through December 31, 2018. STUDY SELECTION Eligible RCTs included a psychosocial intervention, immune outcome, and preintervention and postintervention immunologic assessments. Studies were independently examined by 2 investigators. Of 4621 studies identified, 62 were eligible and 56 included. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Data were extracted and analyzed from January 1, 2019, to July 29, 2019. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed. Data were extracted by 2 investigators who were blind to study hypotheses and analyses, and were then analyzed using robust variance estimation. Analysis included 8 psychosocial interventions (behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, cognitive behavior therapy [CBT], CBT plus additive treatment or mode of delivery that augmented the CBT, bereavement or supportive therapy, multiple or combined interventions, other psychotherapy, and psychoeducation), 7 immune outcomes (proinflammatory cytokine or marker levels, anti-inflammatory cytokine levels, antibody levels, immune cell counts, natural killer cell activity, viral load, and other immune outcomes), and 9 moderating factors (intervention type, intervention format, intervention length, immune marker type, basal vs stimulated markers, immune marker measurement timing, disease state or reason for treatment, age, and sex). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary a priori outcomes were pretest-posttest-control (ppc) group effect sizes (ppc g) for the 7 immunologic outcomes investigated. RESULTS Across 56 RCTs and 4060 participants, psychosocial interventions were associated with enhanced immune system function (ppc g = 0.30, 95% CI, 0.21-0.40; t50.9 = 6.22; P < .001). Overall, being randomly assigned to a psychosocial intervention condition vs a control condition was associated with a 14.7% (95% CI, 5.7%-23.8%) improvement in beneficial immune system function and an 18.0% (95% CI, 7.2%-28.8%) decrease in harmful immune system function over time. These associations persisted for at least 6 months following treatment and were robust across age, sex, and intervention duration. These associations were most reliable for CBT (ppc g = 0.33, 95% CI, 0.19-0.47; t27.2 = 4.82; P < .001) and multiple or combined interventions (ppc g = 0.52, 95% CI, 0.17-0.88; t5.7 = 3.63; P = .01), and for studies that assessed proinflammatory cytokines or markers (ppc g = 0.33, 95% CI, 0.19-0.48; t25.6 = 4.70; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE These findings suggest that psychosocial interventions are reliably associated with enhanced immune system function and may therefore represent a viable strategy for improving immune-related health.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Chandler M. Spahr
- Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California
| | - George M. Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
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Shields GS, Skwara AC, King BG, Zanesco AP, Dhabhar FS, Saron CD. Deconstructing the effects of concentration meditation practice on interference control: The roles of controlled attention and inflammatory activity. Brain Behav Immun 2020; 89:256-267. [PMID: 32640286 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.06.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Revised: 06/23/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Prior work has linked meditation practice to improvements in interference control. However, the mechanisms underlying these improvements are relatively unknown. In the context of meditation training, improvements in interference control could result eitherfrom increases in controlled attention to goal-relevant stimuli, or from reductions in automatic capture by goal-irrelevant stimuli. Moreover, few studies have linked training-related changes in attention to physiological processes, such as inflammatory activity, that are thought to influence cognitive function. This study addresses these gaps by examining associations between cognitive performance and cytokines in the context of an intensive meditation retreat. Participants were randomly assigned to complete 3 months of meditation training first, or to serve as waitlist controls. The waitlist-control participants then later completed a separate 3-month training intervention. We assessed participants' interference control with a flanker task and used computational modeling to derive component processes of controlled and automatic attention. We also collected blood samples at the beginning, middle, and end of training to quantify changes in cytokine activity. Participants who completed training evidenced better controlled attention than waitlist controls during the first retreat intervention, and controls showed significant improvements in controlled attention when they completed their own, second retreat. Importantly, inflammatory activity was inversely associated with controlled attention during both interventions. Our results suggest that practice of concentration meditation influences interference control by enhancing controlled attention to goal-relevant task elements, and that inflammatory activity relates to individual differences in controlled attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA.
| | - Alea C Skwara
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Brandon G King
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Anthony P Zanesco
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
| | - Firdaus S Dhabhar
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, and The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Clifford D Saron
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
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Slavich GM, Shields GS, Deal BD, Gregory A, Toussaint LL. Alleviating Social Pain: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Forgiveness and Acetaminophen. Ann Behav Med 2020; 53:1045-1054. [PMID: 31050715 DOI: 10.1093/abm/kaz015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Research has suggested that physical pain (e.g., caused by injury) and social pain (e.g., caused by social rejection) are modulated by some of the same biological systems. Consequently, it is possible that acetaminophen, which is commonly used to alleviate physical pain through neurochemical pathways, may have social pain-relieving effects that interact with forgiveness, which reduces social pain through psychological pathways. To date, however, only a few studies have examined how experiences of social pain change over time, and none have examined how acetaminophen and forgiveness interact to influence these effects. PURPOSE We addressed these issues by investigating how acetaminophen administration and daily forgiveness are associated with experiences of social pain over 21 days. We hypothesized that acetaminophen-related reductions in social pain across the 21-day study period would be greatest on days following high levels of forgiveness. METHOD To test this hypothesis, we conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in which we randomly assigned 42 healthy young adults to an acetaminophen condition (1,000 mg of acetaminophen daily), placebo-control condition (400 mg of potassium daily), or empty-control (no pill) condition. We then assessed their levels of forgiveness and social pain for 20 consecutive days. RESULTS As hypothesized, acetaminophen reduced participants' social pain levels over time but only for those exhibiting high levels of forgiveness (i.e., 18.5% reduction in social pain over 20 days). CONCLUSIONS These data are the first to show that forgiveness and acetaminophen have interactive effects on experiences of social pain, which is one of the most common and impactful of all human experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- George M Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Bailey D Deal
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Amy Gregory
- Department of Psychology, Luther College, Decorah, IA, USA
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Smith T, Johns-Wolfe E, Shields GS, Malat J, Jacquez F, Slavich GM. Associations between lifetime stress exposure and prenatal health behaviors. Stress Health 2020; 36:384-395. [PMID: 31994297 PMCID: PMC7384940 DOI: 10.1002/smi.2933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Revised: 01/13/2020] [Accepted: 01/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Prenatal health behaviors can strongly influence risk of poor pregnancy birth outcomes. Although stress has been implicated in structuring the likelihood that individuals will engage in various prenatal health behavior patterns, no studies to date have examined life stress exposure occurring across the entire lifespan, and few have investigated how different types of stressors are comparatively associated with these outcomes. To address these issues, we interviewed 164 women at one of two large Midwestern, urban hospitals after delivering their first infant. We used the Stress and Adversity Inventory (STRAIN) to assess women's lifetime stress exposure severity and ordinary least squares regression models to examine associations between participants' life stress exposure and prenatal health behaviors. As hypothesized, greater lifetime stress exposure was associated with engaging in more negative prenatal health behaviors and fewer positive prenatal health behaviors while controlling for relevant sociodemographic factors and current perceived stress levels. These effects were stronger for negative versus positive health behaviors, and they differed substantially as a function of stressor type, exposure timing, and primary life domain. Stressors occurring over the life course thus have negative consequences for prenatal health behaviors, but these effects are not uniform across different types of life stress exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
| | | | - Grant S. Shields
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California
| | - Jennifer Malat
- Office of the Dean, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
| | - Farrah Jacquez
- Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
| | - George M. Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and, Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California
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McMullin SD, Shields GS, Slavich GM, Buchanan TW. Cumulative lifetime stress exposure predicts greater impulsivity and addictive behaviors. J Health Psychol 2020; 26:2921-2936. [PMID: 32643970 DOI: 10.1177/1359105320937055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The study investigated whether lifetime stress exposure is associated with greater impulsivity and addictive behavior. We also examined whether stress and impulsivity interactively predicted food addiction and alcohol-related behavior. Greater lifetime stress exposure was related to more impulsivity and food addictive behaviors, but not alcohol-related consequences. There were no interactions between lifetime stress exposure and impulsivity in predicting addictive behaviors. Exploratory analyses revealed that early and adulthood stress exposure predicted food addiction, whereas only adulthood stress predicted alcohol-related consequences. Therefore, lifetime stress exposure is related to impulsivity and addiction, but these effects differ by addiction outcome and specific timing of stress exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Grant S Shields
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
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40
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Banica I, Sandre A, Shields GS, Slavich GM, Weinberg A. The error-related negativity (ERN) moderates the association between interpersonal stress and anxiety symptoms six months later. Int J Psychophysiol 2020; 153:27-36. [PMID: 32277956 PMCID: PMC7335004 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2019] [Revised: 02/26/2020] [Accepted: 03/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are often preceded by interpersonal stress; however, most individuals who experience stress do not develop anxiety, making it difficult to predict who is most susceptible to stress. One proposed trans-diagnostic neural risk marker for anxiety is the error-related negativity (ERN), a negative deflection in the event-related potential waveform occurring within 100 ms of error commission. The present study sought to investigate whether interpersonal stress experienced over the course of a year interacts with ERN magnitude to prospectively predict anxiety symptoms. A sample of 57 emerging adults performed an arrow flanker task to elicit the ERN at the start of the academic school year (time one). Toward the end of the academic year (time two), participants reported on past-year interpersonal stress and anxiety symptoms. Stress interacted with ERN magnitude to predict anxiety symptoms, whereby, for individuals with an enhanced ERN at time one, greater interpersonal stress over the course of a year was significantly associated with increased anxiety symptoms at time two, even controlling for anxiety symptoms at time one. These findings suggest that enhanced performance monitoring may render individuals more susceptible to the adverse effects of interpersonal stress, thereby increasing risk for heightened anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iulia Banica
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1G1, Canada
| | - Aislinn Sandre
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1G1, Canada
| | - Grant S Shields
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - George M Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Anna Weinberg
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1G1, Canada.
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Abstract
Background: Although it is known that plant-based foods are important for physical health, little is known about the relationship between plant-based foods and cognitive health. Emerging evidence suggests that some macronutrients may influence cognition, but it is unclear which domains of cognition are involved; more importantly, it is unknown how a plant-based diet relates to cognition.Objective: To examine associations between a plant-based dietary pattern and cognitive functioning.Methods: Participants were 3,039 older adults who participated in the 2011-2014 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The present cross-sectional study used data on macronutrient intake from 24-hour dietary interviews, as well as performance on tests of long-term memory and executive function (i.e., delayed word recall, digit symbol substitution test, and animal fluency). Principal component analysis was used to extract a dietary pattern consistent with a plant-based diet.Results: Greater adherence to a dietary pattern consistent with a plant-based diet was related to better performance on all cognitive tasks. Secondary analyses indicated that the associations between a plant-based dietary pattern and executive function accounted for the association between a plant-based dietary pattern and memory. Furthermore, this same plant-based dietary pattern was associated with reduced baseline inflammation in a separate dataset.Conclusions: Experimental manipulations are needed to determine the potential causal relations of these associations, but these results suggest that a plant-based diet relates to better cognition, especially through improved executive control. Future work should also attempt to extend these results by examining potential mechanisms underlying these associations, such as reduced inflammation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle M Ramey
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis.,Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis.,Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
| | - Andrew P Yonelinas
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis
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Yang Y, Shields GS, Wu Q, Liu Y, Chen H, Guo C. The association between obesity and lower working memory is mediated by inflammation: Findings from a nationally representative dataset of U.S. adults. Brain Behav Immun 2020; 84:173-179. [PMID: 31785398 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2019.11.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2019] [Revised: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Obesity is often accompanied by lower working memory (e.g., a lower ability to keep goal-relevant information in mind) relative to healthy weight individuals. Understanding this relative working memory impairment has important clinical implications, as working memory is thought to facilitate adherence to weight management programs. Theoretical models of obesity, self-regulation, and inflammation suggest that inflammation plays a role in obesity-related working memory impairments, but to date no study has tested this prediction. Therefore, the current study examined whether inflammation statistically mediated the relationship between obesity and working memory in a nationally representative dataset of U.S. adults from Wave IV of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 11,546, age range 25-34). Inflammation was quantified via C-reactive protein (CRP) level, and working memory was assessed using a modified digit span backward task. As expected, cross-sectional analyses showed that a body mass index (BMI) indicative of obesity-as well as greater BMI when BMI was analyzed continuously-and greater CRP were each related to lower working memory. Critically, we found that CRP levels statistically mediated the relationships between obesity/greater BMI and working memory, with CRP accounting for 44.1% of the variance explained in working memory by BMI. Moreover, these findings held both with and without controlling for relevant covariates, including demographic characteristics (e.g., age), socioeconomic status, and behavioral factors (e.g., smoking). Our results therefore point to inflammation as playing an important role in the relationship between obesity and working memory, and suggest that interventions aimed at reducing inflammation may help lessen the cognitive burden of obesity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingkai Yang
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Grant S Shields
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Qian Wu
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Yanling Liu
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Hong Chen
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Cheng Guo
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
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Shields GS. Stress and cognition: A user's guide to designing and interpreting studies. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2020; 112:104475. [PMID: 31810538 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2019] [Revised: 08/14/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Fueling the rapid growth in our understanding of how stress influences cognition, the number of studies examining the effects of stress on various cognitive processes has grown substantially over the last two decades. Despite this growth, few published guidelines exist for designing these studies, and divergent paradigm designs can diminish typical effects of stress or even reverse them. The goal of this review, therefore, is to survey necessary considerations (e.g., validating a stress induction), important considerations (e.g., specifying the timing of the stressor and cognitive task), and best practices (e.g., using Bayesian analyses) when designing a study that aims at least in part to examine the effects of acute stress on some cognitive process or function. These guidelines will also serve to help readers of these studies interpret what may otherwise be very confusing, anomalous results. Designing and interpreting studies with these considerations and practices in mind will help to move the field of stress and cognition forward by clarifying how, exactly, stress influences performance on a given cognitive task in a population of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S Shields
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, United States.
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Cazassa MJ, Oliveira MDS, Spahr CM, Shields GS, Slavich GM. The Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adults (Adult STRAIN) in Brazilian Portuguese: Initial Validation and Links With Executive Function, Sleep, and Mental and Physical Health. Front Psychol 2020; 10:3083. [PMID: 32063871 PMCID: PMC6999460 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2019] [Accepted: 12/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been widely hypothesized that stressors occurring over the lifespan exert a cumulative impact on health, but little work has directly tested these theories given the difficulty associated with measuring cumulative stress exposure over the lifespan. We addressed this issue in Brazil by translating the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adults (Adult STRAIN) into Brazilian Portuguese. We then examined the instrument's usability and acceptability; concurrent, discriminant, predictive, and incremental validity; and test-retest reliability. Participants were 330 Brazilian adults (238 women; M age = 32.16; range: 18-76 years old) who completed the Adult STRAIN in Brazilian Portuguese, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). They also completed measures of socioeconomic status, personality, social desirability, negative affect, physical and mental health complaints, sleep quality, executive function, and doctor-diagnosed general health problems and autoimmune disorders. The STRAIN exhibited excellent usability and acceptability and was completed in 16 min and 27 s, on average. It showed good concurrent validity relative to the CTQ-SF and PSS (rs ≥ 0.377) and good discriminant validity, both with and without adjusting for covariates. In addition, the STRAIN significantly predicted all of the health outcomes assessed except for executive function and explained substantial variance in these outcomes over and above the CTQ-SF, PSS, and covariates assessed. Finally, the test-retest reliability indices for total lifetime stressor count and severity were outstanding (r icc = 0.936 and 0.953, respectively, over M = 34.86 days). The Adult STRAIN in Brazilian Portuguese thus exhibits excellent usability and acceptability, good concurrent and discriminant validity, strong predictive and incremental validity across a variety of health outcomes, and outstanding test-retest reliability. We therefore conclude that the STRAIN is a practical, valid, and reliable instrument for researchers and clinicians looking to efficiently assess cumulative lifetime stress exposure in Brazilian Portuguese.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milton J. Cazassa
- Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Margareth da S. Oliveira
- Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Chandler M. Spahr
- Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Grant S. Shields
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - George M. Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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45
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Yang Y, Shields GS, Wu Q, Liu Y, Guo C. Obesity is associated with poor working memory in women, not men: Findings from a nationally representative dataset of U.S. adults. Eat Behav 2019; 35:101338. [PMID: 31707244 DOI: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.101338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Revised: 10/09/2019] [Accepted: 10/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
A growing body of research has linked obesity to lower working memory performance. However, sex differences are often found in associations between obesity and cognition, and little work has examined potential sex differences in the association between obesity and working memory. To address this issue, the present research uses data from Wave IV of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 4,769, mean age = 29) to examine whether sex moderated the association between excess weight and working memory. As expected, we found that obesity was associated with poorer working memory, but-importantly-this association was exclusively seen in women, not men. These results held when treating BMI as a continuous or categorical variable (e.g., normal weight, obese), as well as with and without controlling for covariates. The present results therefore indicate that the association between obesity and poorer working memory performance may be sex-dependent. These results suggest that interventions targeted at reducing obesity should be tailored to an individual's sex, as adherence to these interventions often requires working memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingkai Yang
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Qian Wu
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Yanling Liu
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Cheng Guo
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
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46
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Shields GS, Ivory SL, Telzer EH. Three-month cumulative exposure to testosterone and cortisol predicts distinct effects on response inhibition and risky decision-making in adolescents. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 110:104412. [PMID: 31520929 PMCID: PMC6859201 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2019] [Revised: 08/15/2019] [Accepted: 08/16/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Prior studies have established that cortisol and testosterone play a role in impulsive behavior, but little is known about how cumulative exposure to these hormones over a recent period influences cognitive processes that help to regulate impulsive behavior. We addressed this gap in the present study by examining how hair concentrations of testosterone and cortisol related to response inhibition and risky decision-making in adolescents. Adolescents provided 3 cm of hair cut as close as possible to the scalp from a posterior vertex position-indexing three months of hair growth-and completed two behavioral tasks, one that measures response inhibition and the second that measures risky decision-making. We found that greater three-month cumulative exposure to testosterone predicted better response inhibition but was unassociated with risky decision-making, whereas greater three-month cumulative exposure to cortisol predicted less risky decision-making but was unassociated with response inhibition. These results suggest that testosterone and cortisol may be associated with unique cognitive processes underpinning impulsive behavior, providing further evidence for their roles in contributing to complex impulsive behaviors in adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Susannah L. Ivory
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
| | - Eva H. Telzer
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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47
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Yang Y, Shields GS, Wu Q, Liu Y, Chen H, Guo C. Cognitive training on eating behaviour and weight loss: A meta-analysis and systematic review. Obes Rev 2019; 20:1628-1641. [PMID: 31353774 DOI: 10.1111/obr.12916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2019] [Revised: 07/02/2019] [Accepted: 07/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive deficits play a role in the development and maintenance of overeating and obesity, and cognitive training in obesity refers to a family of interventions aimed at reducing overeating and obesity by improving these cognitive deficits. In this review, we synthesize the current literature on these issues by conducting a meta-analysis of studies investigating the effects of cognitive trainings on eating behaviour and presenting a systematic review of studies investigating the effects of cognitive trainings on weight loss. We examined 66 independent experiments that examined the effects of cognitive training aimed at reducing cognitive bias or improving executive control on eating behaviour and weight loss. Overall, inhibition training, attention bias modification training, and episodic future thinking training significantly influenced eating behaviour; however, approach/avoidance training did not significantly influence eating behaviour. Moderator analyses indicated that the effect of inhibition training on eating behaviour was moderated by training task and food novelty, the effect of approach/avoidance training was moderated by food type, and the effect of episodic future thinking training was moderated by type of episodic future thinking. Literature reviewed on cognitive training and weight loss provided preliminary support for the effects of food-specific inhibition training on weight loss from pre-intervention to post intervention. However, because most of the included studies focused on short-term outcomes in normal-weight samples, longer duration studies in clinical populations (eg, individuals with obesity) are needed to examine the generalizability of these results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingkai Yang
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Qian Wu
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Yanling Liu
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Hong Chen
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.,Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Cheng Guo
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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48
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Shields GS, Rivers AM, Ramey MM, Trainor BC, Yonelinas AP. Mild acute stress improves response speed without impairing accuracy or interference control in two selective attention tasks: Implications for theories of stress and cognition. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 108:78-86. [PMID: 31229636 PMCID: PMC6707871 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2019] [Revised: 04/30/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Acute stress is generally thought to impair performance on tasks thought to rely on selective attention. This effect has been well established for moderate to severe stressors, but no study has examined how a mild stressor-the most common type of stressor-influences selective attention. In addition, no study to date has examined how stress influences the component processes involved in overall selective attention task performance, such as controlled attention, automatic attentional activation, decision-making, and motor abilities. To address these issues, we randomly assigned 107 participants to a mild acute stress or control condition. As expected, the mild acute stress condition showed a small but significant increase in cortisol relative to the control condition. Following the stressor, we assessed attention with two separate flanker tasks. One of these tasks was optimized to investigate component attentional processes using computational cognitive modeling, whereas the other task employed mouse-tracking to illustrate how response conflict unfolded over time. The results for both tasks showed that mild acute stress decreased response time (i.e., increased response speed) without influencing accuracy or interference control. Further, computational modeling and mouse-tracking analyses indicated that these effects were due to faster motor action execution time for chosen actions. Intriguingly, however, cortisol responses were unrelated to any of the observed effects of mild stress. These results have implications for theories of stress and cognition, and highlight the importance of considering motor processes in understanding the effects of stress on cognitive task performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S Shields
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California, USA; Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California, USA.
| | - Andrew M Rivers
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CA
| | - Michelle M Ramey
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California, USA; Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California, USA; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Brian C Trainor
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California, USA; Department of Animal Behavior, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Andrew P Yonelinas
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California, USA; Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California, USA; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California, USA
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49
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Shields GS, Dunn TM, Trainor BC, Yonelinas AP. Determining the biological associates of acute cold pressor post-encoding stress effects on human memory: The role of salivary interleukin-1β. Brain Behav Immun 2019; 81:178-187. [PMID: 31176727 PMCID: PMC6754786 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2019.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Revised: 06/05/2019] [Accepted: 06/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Stress generally hurts many aspects of memory, but an interesting finding to emerge from the stress and memory literature is that stress that occurs shortly after learning (i.e., post-encoding stress) usually benefits memory. Although this effect is well established, the biological mechanisms underpinning this effect are not-especially in humans. We addressed this gap in the present study by collecting saliva samples from 80 participants who were randomized to a post-encoding stress (i.e., cold pressor for 3 min) or control task (i.e., warm water for 3 min) and 48 h later completed a recognition memory task. Saliva was collected both prior to and 15 min after the offset of (18 min after the onset of) the stress/control manipulation. Drawing on animal and human work, we examined how five stress-responsive biomarkers-cortisol, salivary α-amylase, progesterone, estradiol, and the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β, all assessed in saliva-related to the effects of stress on memory. We found that stress enhanced recollection of negative images and that these effects were selectively related to salivary IL-1β. Moreover, we found that the beneficial effects of stress on memory were statistically mediated by salivary IL-1β. We found no robust associations-either linear or quadratic-between memory and any other biomarker, nor did we find significant interactions between biomarkers in predicting memory. These results suggest that immune system activity indexed by salivary IL-1β may play an important role in contributing to post-encoding stress effects on human memory.
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Shields GS, Slavich GM, Perlman G, Klein DN, Kotov R. The short-term reliability and long-term stability of salivary immune markers. Brain Behav Immun 2019; 81:650-654. [PMID: 31175997 PMCID: PMC6754758 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2019.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2018] [Revised: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 06/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Salivary markers of immune function are increasingly commonly used in studies of human health. Yet, few studies have examined the short-term or long-term reliability or stability of these biomarkers, making their measurement properties unclear. We addressed this issue in the present study by collecting two saliva samples, two hours apart, from 426 adolescent girls during a baseline laboratory visit. Then, eighteen months later, we collected the same samples again from a subset of these participants (n = 113). The correlations between the two samples collected at each session were generally high (mean r = 0.67). In contrast, although single saliva samples were only weakly correlated across 18 month (mean rs = 0.18), averaging the two quantifications within a session considerably improved the reliability (mean r = 0.27). In short, salivary immune markers exhibited strong short-term test-retest correlations, and averaging across multiple assessments notably improved long-term test-retest correlations. Additional research is needed to establish the health relevance and mechanisms underlying these potentially useful, non-invasive biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant S. Shields
- Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA,Correspondence: Address correspondence to either Grant S. Shields, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA, phone: (530) 302-6608, , or Roman Kotov, Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8101, phone: (631) 638-1923,
| | - George M. Slavich
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Greg Perlman
- Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
| | - Daniel N. Klein
- Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
| | - Roman Kotov
- Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA; Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA; Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
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