Memory and affective changes during the antepartum: A narrative review and integrative hypothesis.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Many women report diminished memory function during the second or third trimesters of pregnancy, but objective neuropsychological tests often fail to show any decrement in performance. The present paper systematically reviews published studies that have investigated this phenomenon over the past 25 years and considers newer studies showing that affective changes occur during gestation in a subset of pregnant women. METHOD: A systematic search was conducted to identify articles relevant to pregnancy and memory function. Articles published since 1990 that included a nonpregnant comparison group were retained for review. RESULTS: A literature review of studies using objective memory testing suggests that a mild antepartum decline in explicit verbal recall occurs in some women. There is little empirical support for objective changes in semantic or implicit memory during pregnancy. Findings for working memory are mixed, with evidence supporting both decrements and enhancements. Inconsistencies in the literature potentially reflect a moderating influence of pregnancy-linked depressive affect on cognitive performance, not simply domain specificity, as previously suggested. CONCLUSIONS: Diminished memory function may occur in a specific subset of pregnant women who display depressive symptoms associated with pregnancy.

Hair cortisol concentrations in higher- and lower-stress mother-daughter dyads: A pilot study of associations and moderators.

Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) are receiving increased attention as a novel biomarker of psychophysiological responses to chronic stress, with potential relevance for psychopathology risk research. We examined the validity of HCC as a marker of psychosocial stress in mother (M(age) = 37.87 years)-daughter (M(age) = 7.62 years) dyads characterized by higher (n = 30) or lower (n = 30) maternal chronic stress. Additionally, we examined whether early care moderated similarity of HCC levels within dyads. Higher-stress mothers had significantly lower HCC compared to lower-stress mothers, consistent with other research showing that chronic stress leads to blunted HPA axis activity over time. Further, HCC in daughters were significantly and positively associated with previously assessed salivary cortisol stress reactivity. Finally, mother-daughter HCC associations were significantly moderated by negative parenting styles, such that associations became stronger as quality of parenting decreased. Findings overall indicate that HCC may be a useful marker of cortisol responses to chronic stress.

Assessing threat responses towards the symptoms and diagnosis of schizophrenia using visual perceptual biases.

Stigma towards individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia continues despite increasing public knowledge about the disorder. Questionnaires are used almost exclusively to assess stigma despite self-report biases affecting their validity. The purpose of this experiment was to implicitly assess stigma towards individuals with schizophrenia by measuring visual perceptual biases immediately after participants conversed with a confederate. We manipulated both the diagnostic label attributed to the confederate (peer vs. schizophrenia) and the presence of behavioural symptoms (present vs. absent). Immediately before and after conversing with the confederate, we measured participants' facing-the-viewer (FTV) biases (the preference to perceive depth-ambiguous stick-figure walkers as facing towards them). As studies have suggested that the FTV bias is sensitive to the perception of threat, we hypothesized that FTV biases would be greater after participants conversed with someone that they believed had schizophrenia, and also after they conversed with someone who presented symptoms of schizophrenia. We found partial support for these hypotheses. Participants had significantly greater FTV biases in the Peer Label/Symptoms Present condition. Interestingly, while FTV biases were lowest in the Schizophrenia Label/Symptoms Present condition, participants in this condition were most likely to believe that people with schizophrenia should face social restrictions. Our findings support that both implicit and explicit beliefs help develop and sustain stigma.