Enhanced human memory consolidation with post-learning stress: interaction with the degree of arousal at encoding.

By Larry Cahill, L. Gorski, K. Le. Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), 2003

704 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abundant evidence indicates that endogenous stress hormones such as epinephrine and corticosterone modulate memory consolidation in animals. We recently provided the first demonstration that an endogenous stress hormone (epinephrine) can enhance human memory consolidation. However, these findings also suggested that post-learning stress hormone activation does not uniformly enhance memory for all recently acquired information; rather, that it interacts with the degree of arousal at initial encoding of material in modulating memory for the material. Here we tested this hypothesis by administering cold pressor stress (CPS) or a control procedure to subjects after they viewed slides of varying emotional content, and assessing memory for the slides 1 wk later. CPS, which significantly elevated salivary cortisol levels, enhanced memory for emotionally arousing slides compared with the controls, but did not affect memory for relatively neutral slides. These findings further support the view that post-learning stress hormone-related activity interacts with arousal at initial encoding to modulate memory consolidation.

Subfields: Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fd9fedbd9f4cbeb060c962872e8a8429992eec4a

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Citations in the corpus

Impaired Memory Retrieval after Psychosocial Stress in Healthy Young Men (2005, background): “Two studies reported enhanced consolidation of emotionally arousing stimuli after cortisol or stress treatment (Buchanan and Lovallo, 2001; Cahill et al., 2003).”
The Temporal Dynamics Model of Emotional Memory Processing: A Synthesis on the Neurobiological Basis of Stress-Induced Amnesia, Flashbulb and Traumatic Memories, and the Yerkes-Dodson Law (2007, background): “Although emotional memories may not be ﬂawless representations of the original experiences (Tekcan et al. [91]; Schmidt [92]; Laney and Lof-tus [93]; Loftus [94]), their general accuracy and durability which can span decades are remarkable (Tekcan and Peynir-cio˘glu [95]; Berntsen and Thomsen [34]).”
The amygdala modulates the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing experiences. (2004, background): “Epinephrine or cold pressor stress (known to induce the release of epinephrine) administered after subjects viewed emotionally arousing slides enhanced the subjects’ long-term memory of the slides (Cahill & Alkire 2003, Cahill et al. 2003).”
Emotion and memory narrowing: A review and goal-relevance approach (2009, background): “Other research shows that acute stress accompanied by arousal enhances encoding and consolidation (Roozendaal, 2002 ; Roozendaal, Okuda, Van der Zee, & McGaugh, 2006 ), particularly when the information being encoded is emotional (Buchanan & Lovallo, 2001 ; Cahill, Gorski, & Le, 2003 ; Payne et ”
Arousal-biased competition in perception and memory (2011, positive): “Arousal enhances consolidation for emotional items Postencoding arousal enhances memory for emotional stimuli more than for neutral stimuli, indicating that arousal enhances memory consolidation of emotional, but not neutral, information (Buchanan & Lovallo, 2001; Cahill et al., 2003).”
The effects of stress and stress hormones on human cognition: Implications for the field of brain and cognition. (2007, background): “, 2003) learning enhanced memory for emotional material, while it had no impact (Cahill et al., 2003), impaired (Buchanan, Tranel, & Adolphs, 2006) or increased (Andreano & Cahill, 2006) subsequent memory for neutral information (Jelici et al.”
Emotion and cognition: insights from studies of the human amygdala. (2006, background): “However, only a few studies have clearly documented arousal's specific influence on memory consolidation in humans, independent of its effect on encoding (Cahill & Alkire 2003, Cahill et al. 2003, Sharot & Phelps 2004).”
Contributions of the amygdala to emotion processing: from animal models to human behavior. (2005, background): “Two recent studies induced an arousal response immediately after a stimulus was encountered using a pharmacological (Cahill and Alkire, 2003) or pain (Cahill et al., 2003) manipulation.”
Multiple Intelligences, the Mozart Effect, and Emotional Intelligence: A Critical Review (2006, background): “Nielson, Yee, and Erickson (2005) found that human learning was significantly enhanced by an emotionally arousing videotape, and Cahill, Gorski, and Le (2003) reported evidence that human cortical arousal, with increased epinephrine, enhanced human memory consolidation.”
Social bonds and posttraumatic stress disorder. (2008, background): “…memories is increasingly seen as leading to symptoms of re-experiencing, hypervigilance, and ultimately avoidance and numbing (Cahill 1997, Cahill et al. 2003, Frewen & Lanius 2006, Kazui et al. 2000, Pitman & Delahanty 2005, Quirk et al. 2006, Rauch et al. 2006, Rothbaum & Davis 2003,…”