Does acute stress differentially alter cognitive functioning in older versus younger adults? While older adults may be better at handling stress psychologically, their physiological systems are less elastic, potentially impairing the cognitive functioning of older adults after a stressor. We examined cognition following an acute stressor among older (n = 65; ages 60-79) and younger (n = 61; ages 25-40) adults. Participants were randomized to complete the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in one of three conditions: (a) negative feedback, (b) positive feedback, or (c) no feedback. Participants reported mood states and appraisals of the speech task and we measured cortisol via saliva throughout the study. After the TSST, participants completed standard cognitive tasks to evaluate cognitive flexibility, problem solving, and short-term memory. Results showed that after the TSST, older adults took longer to solve problems compared with younger adults, though they were able to solve the same number of problems. Older adults showed less cognitive flexibility compared with younger adults in all conditions, a finding that was partially exaggerated in the positive feedback condition. There were no age-group differences in short-term memory; however, for older adults greater perceived resources and positive affect were associated with better memory performance. In sum, older and younger adults were both affected by acute stress, and older adults were not more (or less) vulnerable to the effects of stress on cognition, though they did show stronger associations between self-reported affective states and memory performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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急性应激对老年人和年轻人认知的影响。

急性压力是否会差异性地改变老年人和年轻人的认知功能？尽管老年人在心理上可能更擅长应对压力，但他们的生理系统弹性较差，有可能损害应激后老年人的认知功能。我们对年龄较大（n = 65； 60-79岁）和年轻人（n = 61； 25-40岁）的成年人进行了急性应激后的认知检查。参与者被随机分在以下三个条件之一中完成Trier社会压力测试（TSST）：( a）负面反馈，（b）正面反馈，或（c）没有反馈。参与者报告了情绪状态和语音任务评估，我们在整个研究过程中通过唾液测量了皮质醇。TSST之后，参与者完成了标准的认知任务，以评估认知的灵活性，解决问题的能力和短期记忆。结果表明，在TSST之后，尽管老年人能够解决相同数量的问题，但他们比年轻人花费更长的时间解决问题。在所有情况下，老年人都比年轻人具有更少的认知灵活性，这一发现在积极反馈条件下被部分夸大了。短期记忆没有年龄组差异。然而，对于老年人来说，更大的感知资源和积极影响与更好的记忆表现有关。总之，老年人和年轻人都受到急性压力的影响，尽管他们确实表现出自我报告的情感状态与记忆表现之间的关联性更高，但老年人对（或更少）承受压力对认知的影响并不大（或更少）。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2021 APA，保留所有权利）。