Effects of hydrocortisone and yohimbine on selective attention to emotional cues
| Autor: | Christian E. Deuter, Christian Otte, Katja Wingenfeld, Woo Ri Chae, Sophie Metz |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System Adolescent Hydrocortisone Emotions Pituitary-Adrenal System Attentional bias Stress attentional bias Young Adult 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Short Reports Double-Blind Method Stress (linguistics) medicine Humans Pharmacology (medical) Selective attention Glucocorticoids Pharmacology Facial expression Yohimbine dot-probe task Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Antagonists 030227 psychiatry Psychiatry and Mental health Salivary alpha-Amylases Cues Psychology Facial Recognition Neuroscience 030217 neurology & neurosurgery medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) |
| ISSN: | 1461-7285 0269-8811 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0269881121997100 |
| Popis: | Introduction: Facial expressions contain important affective information, and selective attention to facial expression provides an advantage in the face of loss, stress and danger. In addition, the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis mediate the organism’s response to loss and danger. Here, we aimed at investigating the influence of sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activation on selective attention to affective facial stimuli. Methods and materials: One hundred-and-four healthy men between 18–35 years old (mean (standard deviation) age: 24.1 (3.5) years) participated in the study. We used a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Participants received either: (a) yohimbine, (b) hydrocortisone, (c) yohimbine and hydrocortisone or (d) placebo only and participated in a dot-probe task with sad, happy and neutral faces. We collected salivary samples to measure cortisol and alpha amylase activity in addition to measurements of blood pressure and heart rate. Salivary cortisol served as correlate of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activation and salivary alpha amylase activity, blood pressure and heart rate as correlates of sympathetic nervous system activation. Measurements were carried out before and after drug administration. Results: We did not find a main effect or interaction effect of hydrocortisone or yohimbine administration on selective attention to happy faces. However, we found an interaction of yohimbine and hydrocortisone on selective attention to sad faces. Post-hoc t-test revealed an attentional bias away from sad stimuli and towards neutral faces in the hydrocortisone-only group. Discussion: Only hydrocortisone administration led to an attentional bias away from sad faces. Future studies should investigate these effects in major depression disorder, as this disorder is characterised by glucocorticoid resistance and increased processing of sad stimuli. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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