Acute stress impacts reaction times in older but not in young adults in a flanker task.

ABSTRACT: Acute psychosocial stress effects on inhibition have been investigated in young adults, but little is known about these effects in older adults. The present study investigated effects of the Trier Social Stress Test on cognitive inhibition (i.e., ability to ignore distracting information) using a cross-over (stress vs. control) design in healthy young (N = 50; 18-30 years; M_age = 23.06) versus older adults (N = 50; 65-84 years; M_age = 71.12). Cognitive inhibition was measured by a letter flanker task and psychophysiological measures (cortisol, heart rate, subjective stress) validated the stress induction. The results showed that while stress impaired overall accuracy across age groups and sessions, stress (vs. control) made older adults' faster in session 1 and slower

SUBMITTER: Mikneviciute G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10582047 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature