Effects of Stress Hormones on Emotion and Cognition

March 3, 2008 updated by: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

The Effects of Cortisol and Norepinephrine Modulation on Emotional and Nonemotional Processing

The purpose of this study is to examine how hormonal changes that occur during stressful situations affect thought and emotions. Results from this study may lead to treatments that can alleviate the psychological effects of trauma.

Levels of cortisol and norepinephrine increase in response to stress; these hormones also influence thought processes. This study will give hydrocortisone and/or yohimbine (a stimulator of central norepinephrine) to healthy adults in order to model the stress response and to better understand the way people process information during traumatic events.

This study comprises two experiments in which the stress response is pharmacologically modeled. Participants in the study will have two study visits. During Visit 1, participants will undergo a psychiatric assessment, complete neuropsychological tasks, and have their IQ measured. During Visit 2, participants will be given hydrocortisone and/or yohimbine. Blood will be collected before and during this. Participants will then perform two experiments. In one experiment, participants will hear a story with emotional and non-emotional segments; in a second experiment, participants will view both emotional and non-emotional stimuli.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Memories for traumatic events are fundamentally different from typical memories. Individuals who witness or are involved in an extremely stressful event, such as a robbery or a violent act, retain highly accurate memories for the information directly related to the trauma (e.g., a gun or verbal threat), while surrounding details are poorly remembered. This so-called weapon focus phenomenon has been found in both naturalistic and laboratory studies with humans. However, difficulties with the control of naturalistic studies and approximating trauma in the lab limit the validity of these findings.

Neurophysiologically, cortisol and norepinephrine are principal mediators of the stress response, and both influence memory function. In particular, cortisol improves memory at low levels but impairs memory at higher doses. Similarly, some evidence indicates that norepinephrine also enhances memory in low doses and either impairs or does not influence memory at high doses. Much of the experimental work in this area has been conducted with animals. Studies have recently begun to extend these paradigms to humans.

To better understand memory processing during trauma, hydrocortisone and/or yohimbine (a stimulator of central norepinephrine) will be administered to healthy adults in two experiments in order to pharmacologically model the stress response. Following infusion, participants will hear a story with emotional and nonemotional segments in one experiment (N = 80) and emotional as well as nonemotional stimuli (faces and scenes) in another experiment (N = 80). It is predicted that relative to the placebo, hydrocortisone will impair memory for both emotional and nonemotional information, yohimbine will improve memory for both types of information, and the combination of hydrocortisone and yohimbine will enhance memory for emotional aspects and impair memory for the nonemotional segments of the story. Results from this study will permit a better understanding of how emotionally charged memories are encoded and will potentially lead to treatments to mitigate the psychological effects of traumatic exposure.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment

170

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
        • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • ADULT
  • OLDER_ADULT
  • CHILD

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Age: 18-36

IQ: all subjects will have IQ greater than 85

Follicular cycle: Women will participate in the encoding task between days 3-10.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Pregnancy/Nursing

Only healthy individuals will participate; special attention will be taken to ensure that no subject has: hypertension, glaucoma, cataracts, ulcers, renal insufficiency, osteoporosis, hypothyroidism, cirrhosis, ocular herpes simplex and myocardial infarction.

Use of hormonal contraception

Use of glucocorticoids within past 3 years

Use of any psychoactive substance; current or past psychiatric diagnosis.

Irregular sleep pattern as defined as getting less than 6 hours of sleep per night, going to sleep after 2:00 AM; waking up before 5:00 AM or after 11:00 AM

Weight that is 15% more or less than ideal body weight for sex and height

History of panic attacks or first degree relative with history of panic attacks

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2002

Study Completion

January 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 3, 2002

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 3, 2002

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 4, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

March 4, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2008

Last Verified

January 1, 2006

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 020155
  • 02-M-0155

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Healthy

Clinical Trials on Yohimbine

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Congo, DR of

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe