Influences of acute stress on inhibitory control - does age matter? An ERP study

Poster (2017, September)

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) based cognitive functions have been shown to be impaired with increasing age. Furthermore, the PFC has been found to be highly sensitive to stress and the stress hormone cortisol ... [more ▼]

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) based cognitive functions have been shown to be impaired with increasing age. Furthermore, the PFC has been found to be highly sensitive to stress and the stress hormone cortisol, which are assumed to influence executive functions. Although stress, allegorical for the life in the 21st century, concerns and affects both the young and the elderly in work life, little is known about the mutual impact of stress and aging on executive functioning. The present EEG study investigated the impact of acute stress on the core executive function inhibitory control in young and older males. Forty-nine participants were either stressed via the Trier Social Stress Test or underwent a control condition. Subse- quently, they performed a Go Nogo task while EEG, reaction times, errors and salivary cortisol were measured. Though older participants reacted slower to Go stimuli relative to young participants, both groups showed the same accuracy rate for Go and Nogo stimuli. Surprisingly, stress improved accuracy compared to the control group. The similar pattern was found in the EEG data with an enhanced error-related negativity (Ne/ERN) in the stress group. Beside this, elderly showed a reduced Ne compared to the young. No interaction between stress and age was observed. The present results suggest that stress may have beneficial effects on inhibitory control and error monitoring, irrespectively of the age. However, fur- ther research is needed to clarify if this is valid for other executive functions and under which circumstances negative impacts manifest. [less ▲]