What we collectively call “stress” is how we experience our body’s reaction to a stressor. This response is aimed to deal with the current stressor and to prepare for recurrences in the future. The... Show moreWhat we collectively call “stress” is how we experience our body’s reaction to a stressor. This response is aimed to deal with the current stressor and to prepare for recurrences in the future. The stress response is for an important part dependent on glucocorticoid hormones. By and large, the acute response to glucocorticoids is beneficial, but chronic exposure often becomes maladaptive. To improve prevention and treatment of disorders we can develop due to stress, it is important to better understand the effects and working mechanisms of glucocorticoids. While we already possess extensive knowledge regarding glucocorticoids and glucocorticoid receptor signaling, we introduced and studied five “aspects of context”, which we felt address important current misconceptions or gaps of knowledge. Corticosterone was at the center of all the studies we performed, yet the eventual outcome of glucocorticoid receptor activation differed extensively in all experiments. Thus, the context in which corticosterone exerts its effects matters, and it is to researcher to be aware of this when designing new studies and interpreting available data. Whilst our research merely addressed some specific processes, the lessons learned from these experiments can be applied much broader to the biology of glucocorticoid signaling and other nuclear family members. Show less
The main goal of the present thesis was to study the effects of stress and stress hormones on the retrieval of emotional memories in healthy humans. In addition, we were interested in the effects... Show moreThe main goal of the present thesis was to study the effects of stress and stress hormones on the retrieval of emotional memories in healthy humans. In addition, we were interested in the effects of stress hormones on post-retrieval processes like reconsolidation. That is, are there only acute and temporary effects of stress hormones on memory retrieval, or are there also long-term effects? Studying effects of stress hormones can be done in two ways; either by (experimentally) inducing stress in humans, or by exogenously administering doses of stress hormones. In the present thesis both ways were used. Furthermore, when investigating emotional memories, we can make use of memories that are created in a laboratory setting or those that derive from real life experiences, i.e. autobiographical memories. Again, both methods were investigated. We found acute stress and a single cortisol administration to have direct and long-term impairing effects on memory for neutral and emotional information that was learned and reactivated in a controlled laboratory situation. Future studies should shed more light on the generalizability of these findings to real life settings and clinical practice. Show less
