Cumulative lifetime stressor exposure impairs stimulus–response but not contextual learning

Greater exposure to stressors over the life course is believed to promote striatum-dependent over hippocampus-dependent learning and memory processes under stressful conditions. However, little research in this context has actually assessed lifetime stressor exposure and, moreover, it remains unknow...

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Published in:Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 13080 - 13
Main Authors: Rosero-Pahi, Mario, Andoh, Jamila, Shields, Grant S., Acosta-Ortiz, Alida, Serrano-Gomez, Sergio, Slavich, George M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 07.06.2024
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
631/378/1595
631/378/2649
692/700/784
Adult
Adults
Corpus Striatum - physiology
Environmental conditions
Exposure
Female
Hippocampus
Hippocampus - physiology
Hormones
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Learning
Learning - physiology
Male
Medical personnel
Memory
Mental disorders
Mental health
Middle Aged
multidisciplinary
Neostriatum
Neurosciences
Occupational stress
Professional ethics
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Stress
Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
Young Adult
ISSN:2045-2322, 2045-2322
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Greater exposure to stressors over the life course is believed to promote striatum-dependent over hippocampus-dependent learning and memory processes under stressful conditions. However, little research in this context has actually assessed lifetime stressor exposure and, moreover, it remains unknown whether greater cumulative lifetime stressor exposure exerts comparable effects on striatum-dependent learning and hippocampus-dependent learning in non-stressful contexts. To investigate this issue, we used the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adults (Adult STRAIN) and Multicued Search Task to investigate the relation between cumulative lifetime stressor exposure and striatum-dependent stimulus–response learning and hippocampus-dependent contextual learning under non-stressful conditions among healthcare professionals (N = 205; 157 females, 48 males; Age: M = 34.23, SD 9.3, range 20–59 years). Individuals with moderate, but not low, cumulative lifetime stressor exposure exhibited impaired learning for stimulus–response associations. In contrast, learning for context associations was unrelated to participants' lifetime stressor exposure profiles. These results thus provide first evidence that cumulative lifetime stressor exposure may have negative consequences on human striatum-dependent stimulus–response learning under non-stressful environmental conditions.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-62595-x