Chronic stress is associated with specific path integration deficits.
Behav Brain Res
; 442: 114305, 2023 03 28.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36682499
ABSTRACT
Repeated exposure to stress (chronic stress) can cause excess levels of circulating cortisol and has detrimental influences on various cognitive functions including long-term memory and navigation. However, it remains an open question whether chronic stress affects path integration, a navigational strategy that presumably relies on the functioning of grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex. The entorhinal cortex is a brain region in the medial temporal lobe, which contains multiple cell types involved in spatial navigation (and episodic memory), and a high number of corticosteroid receptors, predisposing it as a potential target of cortisol effects. Here, our goal was to investigate the association between chronic stress and path integration performance. We assessed chronic stress via hair cortisol concentration (physiological measure) and the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (subjective measure) in 52 female participants aged 22-65 years. Path integration was measured using a virtual homing task. Linear mixed models revealed selective impairments associated with chronic stress that depended on error type and environmental features. When focusing on distance estimations in the path integration task, we observed a significant relationship to hair cortisol concentrations indicating impaired path integration particularly during trials with higher difficulty in participants with high hair cortisol concentrations. This relationship especially emerged in the absence of spatial cues (a boundary or a landmark), and particularly in participants who reported high levels of subjectively experienced chronic stress. The findings are in line with the hypothesis that chronic stress compromises path integration, possibly via an effect on the entorhinal grid cell system.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Hidrocortisona
/
Navegação Espacial
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Behav Brain Res
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article