Journal
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 92, Issue 2, Pages 257-266Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2012.10.007
Keywords
Hormonal contraception; Norepinephrine; Cortisol; Emotional memory; Salivary alpha-amylase
Funding
- NIMH [575082]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Emotionally arousing material is typically better remembered than neutral material. Since norepinephrine and cortisol interact to modulate emotional memory, sex-related influences on stress responses may be related to sex differences in emotional memory. Two groups of healthy women - one naturally cycling (NC women, n = 42) and one using hormonal contraceptives (HC women, n = 36) - viewed emotionally arousing and neutral images. Immediately after, they were assigned to Cold Pressor Stress (CPS) or a control procedure. One week later, participants received a surprise free recall test. Saliva samples were collected and later assayed for salivary alpha-amylase (biomarker for norepinephrine) and cortisol. Compared to NC women, HC women exhibited significantly blunted stress hormone responses to the images and CPS. Recall of emotional images differed between HC and NC women depending on noradrenergic and cortisol responses. These findings may have important implications for understanding the neurobiology of emotional memory disorders, especially those that disproportionately affect women. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available