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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急性压力对老年人和年轻人认知的影响。

急性压力是否会不同地改变老年人和年轻人的认知功能？虽然老年人可能更善于在心理上处理压力，但他们的生理系统弹性较差，可能会损害老年人在压力源后的认知功能。我们检查了老年人 (n = 65; 60-79 岁) 和年轻 (n = 61; 25-40 岁) 成年人的急性压力源后的认知。参与者被随机分配在以下三种情况之一完成 Trier 社会压力测试 (TSST)：(a) 负反馈，(b) 正反馈，或 (c) 无反馈。参与者报告了情绪状态和对言语任务的评估，我们在整个研究过程中通过唾液测量了皮质醇。在 TSST 之后，参与者完成了标准的认知任务，以评估认知灵活性、问题解决和短期记忆。结果表明，在 TSST 之后，与年轻人相比，老年人解决问题的时间更长，尽管他们能够解决的问题数量相同。在所有条件下，与年轻人相比，老年人的认知灵活性较低，这一发现在正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，更多的感知资源和积极影响与更好的记忆表现相关。总而言之，老年人和年轻人都受到急性压力的影响，老年人对压力对认知的影响并没有更多（或更少）容易受到影响，尽管他们确实表现出自我报告的情感状态和记忆力之间更强的关联。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2021 APA，保留所有权利）。