Early life stress (ELS) is a well-established risk factor for psychopathology across the lifespan. Cognitive vulnerability to stress-induced cortisol may explain risk and resilience. The current study aimed to elucidate a psychobiological pathway linking stress to altered memory for affective words among youth with and without exposure to ELS. One hundred and fifteen youth (ages 9–16, 47% female) were randomized either to a psychosocial stressor or a control condition. Immediately following the stress or control condition, participants completed a memory task for affective words. Change in salivary cortisol from immediately before to 25 min after stress onset were used to predict memory for affective words. Exposure to the acute laboratory stressor led to activation of the HPA axis. Greater cortisol reactivity was associated with less accurate recognition of negative valence words. Among youth exposed to ELS, greater cortisol reactivity to acute stress was associated with poorer recognition of dysphoric and neutral words. Acute increases in cortisol may interfere with negatively-valenced information processing that has implications for memory. Youth exposed to high ELS may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of cortisol, which may explain one pathway through which stress leads to psychopathology among at-risk youth.

中文翻译：

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早期生活压力使青少年对压力引起的皮质醇对情感词汇记忆的影响敏感

早期生活压力 (ELS) 是整个生命周期中公认的精神病理学风险因素。对压力引起的皮质醇的认知脆弱性可以解释风险和复原力。目前的研究旨在阐明一种心理生物学途径，该途径将压力与有或没有接触 ELS 的青少年的情感词汇记忆改变联系起来。115 名青年（9-16 岁，47% 为女性）被随机分配到心理社会压力源或控制条件。在压力或控制条件之后，参与者立即完成了情感词的记忆任务。唾液皮质醇从压力开始前到后 25 分钟的变化用于预测情感词的记忆。暴露于急性实验室压力导致 HPA 轴的激活。较大的皮质醇反应性与对负价词的准确识别较差有关。在接触 ELS 的青年中，皮质醇对急性压力的反应性更强与对烦躁和中性词的识别能力较差有关。皮质醇的急性增加可能会干扰对记忆有影响的负价信息处理。暴露于高 ELS 的青少年可能特别容易受到皮质醇的影响，这可能解释了压力导致高危青少年精神病理学的一种途径。