ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 was associated with an immediate increase in mental health problems in a significant percentage of the general population. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic - as a psychosocial stressor - affected the aetiological processes of mental disorders. Previous research has shown that stress potentiates associative (fear) learning and analogue symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that analogue PTSD symptoms can emerge in response to associative learning. Objective: We investigated whether distress in response to the COVID-19 outbreak support the development of intrusions and rumination after exposure to a non-COVID-19-related analogue trauma. Moreover, we examined if these effects are mediated by the strength of associative learning during analogue trauma. Method: 122 undergraduate university students participated in an online experiment between March and July 2020. They completed questionnaires measuring distress and rumination related to the COVID-19 outbreak. On a subsequent day, they went through an associative learning task, in which neutral stimuli were paired with the appearance of a highly aversive film clip. Subjective ratings were assessed as indicators of associative learning. On the next day, participants documented film-related intrusions and rumination. Results: COVID-19-related distress but not rumination was associated with post-film intrusion and rumination load. These effects were mediated by associative learning. Conclusions: The current findings are in line with the assumptions that stress enhanced both associative learning and PTSD symptoms. Specifically, they indicate that prolonged psychosocial stress - like during the COVID-19 outbreak - is linked to individual differences in memory processing of aversive events. Further confirmatory research is needed to replicate these results.
Antecedentes: El brote de COVID-19 a principios de 2020 se asoció con un aumento inmediato de problemas de salud mental en un porcentaje significativo de la población general. Por lo tanto, es crucial investigar cómo la pandemia de COVID-19, como estresor psicosocial, afectó los procesos etiológicos de los trastornos mentales. Investigaciones anteriores han demostrado que el estrés potencia el aprendizaje asociativo (miedo) y los síntomas análogos del trastorno de estrés postraumático (TEPT) y que los síntomas análogos del TEPT pueden surgir en respuesta al aprendizaje asociativo.Objetivo: Investigamos si el malestar psicológico en respuesta al brote de COVID-19 contribuye al desarrollo de intrusiones y rumiación después de la exposición a un trauma análogo no relacionado con COVID-19. Además, examinamos si estos efectos están mediados por la fuerza del aprendizaje asociativo durante el trauma analógico.Método: 122 estudiantes universitarios de pregrado participaron en un experimento en línea entre marzo y julio de 2020. Completaron cuestionarios que midieron el malestar psicológico y la rumiación relacionados con el brote de COVID-19. Al día siguiente, realizaron una tarea de aprendizaje asociativo, en la que se emparejaron estímulos neutrales con la exposición a un clip de película altamente aversivo. Las calificaciones subjetivas se evaluaron como indicadores de aprendizaje asociativo. Al día siguiente, los participantes documentaron intrusiones y rumiaciones relacionadas con la película.Resultados: El malestar psicológico relacionado con COVID-19, pero no la rumiación, se asoció con la intrusión posterior a la película y la carga de rumiación. Estos efectos fueron mediados por el aprendizaje asociativo.Conclusiones: Los hallazgos actuales están en línea con las suposiciones de que el estrés potenció tanto el aprendizaje asociativo como los síntomas del TEPT. Específicamente, indican que el estrés psicosocial prolongado, como el ocurrido durante el brote de COVID-19, está relacionado con diferencias individuales en el procesamiento de la memoria de eventos aversivos. Se necesita más investigación confirmatoria para replicar estos resultados.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic , Humans , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/epidemiology , Pandemics , Memory/physiology , Fear/psychologyABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: We read, see and hear news from various media sources every day. A large majority of the news is negative. A previous study from our laboratory showed that reading negative news is associated with both increased stress reactivity (measured via the stress hormone cortisol) and recall of the negative news segments in women. OBJECTIVES: The present study investigated the effects of positive news on cortisol stress reactivity, memory and affect using a methodology highly similar to the study on negative news that was previously used by our team. METHODS: Sixty-two healthy participants aged between 18 and 35 years (81% women) were randomly exposed to either positive or neutral news segments, followed by a laboratory stressor. We assessed participants' affect three times during the procedure and measured cortisol in saliva eight times (at 10-minute intervals). Twenty-four hours later, participants were contacted by phone to assess their recall of the news segments. RESULTS: Results showed that exposure to positive news, relative to neutral news, did not modulate participants' cortisol levels in response to the laboratory stressor. Positive news had no impact on memory recall of the news and did not change participants' positive or negative affect. Bayes factors suggested that these nonsignificant results are not attributable to low statistical power. CONCLUSION: Contrary to negative news, positive and neutral news do not modulate stress reactivity, memory and affect. These results suggest that people can stay informed without physiological and psychological costs when the news to which they are exposed adopt a positive or neutral approach.
Subject(s)
Cognition/physiology , Emotions/physiology , Hydrocortisone/analysis , Mass Media , Memory/physiology , Stress, Psychological/physiopathology , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Saliva/chemistry , Young AdultABSTRACT
In the absence of an effective vaccine or treatment, the current best defence against COVID-19 is social distancing - staying at home as much as possible, keeping distance from others, and avoiding large gatherings. Although social distancing improves physical health in terms of helping to reduce viral transmission, its psychological consequences are less clear, particularly its effects on memory. In this research, we investigated the effect of social distancing duration on negative moods and memory. The relation between social distancing duration and both negative mood and memory errors followed the same U-shaped function: negative moods and memory errors initially decreased as social distancing duration increased, and then at approximately 30 days, they began to increase. Subsequent analyses indicated that memory errors were mediated by lonely mood in particular. Thus, short-term social distancing might benefit psychological well-being and memory performance, but extended social distancing has a negative impact on mood and memory.