Cognitive Reserve and Anxiety Interactions Play a Fundamental Role in the Response to the Stress
The aims of the present study were to assess the possible interaction between Cognitive Reserve (CR) and State Anxiety (SA) on adrenocortical and physiological responses in coping situations. Forty healthy, middle-aged men completed the Cognitive Reserve Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.673596/full |
| _version_ | 1818894630554435584 |
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| author | Jose A. García-Moreno Jose A. García-Moreno Fernando Cañadas-Pérez Fernando Cañadas-Pérez Juan García-García Juan García-García María D. Roldan-Tapia María D. Roldan-Tapia |
| author_facet | Jose A. García-Moreno Jose A. García-Moreno Fernando Cañadas-Pérez Fernando Cañadas-Pérez Juan García-García Juan García-García María D. Roldan-Tapia María D. Roldan-Tapia |
| author_sort | Jose A. García-Moreno |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The aims of the present study were to assess the possible interaction between Cognitive Reserve (CR) and State Anxiety (SA) on adrenocortical and physiological responses in coping situations. Forty healthy, middle-aged men completed the Cognitive Reserve Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. We used an Observational Fear Conditioning (OFC) paradigm in order to assess emotional learning and to induce stress. Electrodermal activity (EDA) and salivary cortisol concentrations were measured throughout the conditions. Our results indicate that those who indicated having higher state anxiety showed a lower capacity for learning the contingency, along with presenting higher salivary cortisol peak response following the observational fear-conditioning paradigm. The most prominent finding was the interaction between cognitive reserve and state anxiety on cortisol response to the post observational fear-conditioning paradigm. Thus, those who showed a high anxiety-state and, at the same time, a high cognitive reserve did not present an increased salivary cortisol response following the observational fear-conditioning paradigm. Given these results, we postulate that the state anxiety reported by participants, reflects emotional activation that hinders the attention needed to process and associate emotional stimuli. However, cognitive reserve has an indirect relation with conditioning, enabling better emotional learning. In this context, cognitive reserve demonstrated a protective effect on hormonal response in coping situations, when reported anxiety or emotional activation were high. These findings suggest that cognitive reserve could be used as a tool to deal with the effects of stressors in life situations, limiting development of the allostatic load. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T18:31:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f4e68d6f5c364cbcba374965efede615 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T18:31:33Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-f4e68d6f5c364cbcba374965efede6152022-12-21T20:10:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-09-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.673596673596Cognitive Reserve and Anxiety Interactions Play a Fundamental Role in the Response to the StressJose A. García-Moreno0Jose A. García-Moreno1Fernando Cañadas-Pérez2Fernando Cañadas-Pérez3Juan García-García4Juan García-García5María D. Roldan-Tapia6María D. Roldan-Tapia7CERNEP Research Center, University of Almeria, Almería, SpainCEINSAUAL Research Center, University of Almeria, Almería, SpainCERNEP Research Center, University of Almeria, Almería, SpainCEINSAUAL Research Center, University of Almeria, Almería, SpainCERNEP Research Center, University of Almeria, Almería, SpainCEINSAUAL Research Center, University of Almeria, Almería, SpainCERNEP Research Center, University of Almeria, Almería, SpainCEINSAUAL Research Center, University of Almeria, Almería, SpainThe aims of the present study were to assess the possible interaction between Cognitive Reserve (CR) and State Anxiety (SA) on adrenocortical and physiological responses in coping situations. Forty healthy, middle-aged men completed the Cognitive Reserve Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. We used an Observational Fear Conditioning (OFC) paradigm in order to assess emotional learning and to induce stress. Electrodermal activity (EDA) and salivary cortisol concentrations were measured throughout the conditions. Our results indicate that those who indicated having higher state anxiety showed a lower capacity for learning the contingency, along with presenting higher salivary cortisol peak response following the observational fear-conditioning paradigm. The most prominent finding was the interaction between cognitive reserve and state anxiety on cortisol response to the post observational fear-conditioning paradigm. Thus, those who showed a high anxiety-state and, at the same time, a high cognitive reserve did not present an increased salivary cortisol response following the observational fear-conditioning paradigm. Given these results, we postulate that the state anxiety reported by participants, reflects emotional activation that hinders the attention needed to process and associate emotional stimuli. However, cognitive reserve has an indirect relation with conditioning, enabling better emotional learning. In this context, cognitive reserve demonstrated a protective effect on hormonal response in coping situations, when reported anxiety or emotional activation were high. These findings suggest that cognitive reserve could be used as a tool to deal with the effects of stressors in life situations, limiting development of the allostatic load.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.673596/fullcognitive reserveanxietylearningstresscortisolelectrodermal activity |
| spellingShingle | Jose A. García-Moreno Jose A. García-Moreno Fernando Cañadas-Pérez Fernando Cañadas-Pérez Juan García-García Juan García-García María D. Roldan-Tapia María D. Roldan-Tapia Cognitive Reserve and Anxiety Interactions Play a Fundamental Role in the Response to the Stress Frontiers in Psychology cognitive reserve anxiety learning stress cortisol electrodermal activity |
| title | Cognitive Reserve and Anxiety Interactions Play a Fundamental Role in the Response to the Stress |
| title_full | Cognitive Reserve and Anxiety Interactions Play a Fundamental Role in the Response to the Stress |
| title_fullStr | Cognitive Reserve and Anxiety Interactions Play a Fundamental Role in the Response to the Stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cognitive Reserve and Anxiety Interactions Play a Fundamental Role in the Response to the Stress |
| title_short | Cognitive Reserve and Anxiety Interactions Play a Fundamental Role in the Response to the Stress |
| title_sort | cognitive reserve and anxiety interactions play a fundamental role in the response to the stress |
| topic | cognitive reserve anxiety learning stress cortisol electrodermal activity |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.673596/full |
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