Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-13-2016
Abstract
Stress is strongly associated with several mental and physical health problems that involve inflammation, including asthma, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and depression. It has been hypothesized that better cognitive control of emotional information may lead to reduced inflammatory reactivity to stress and thus better health, but to date no studies have examined whether differences in cognitive control predict pro-inflammatory cytokine responses to stress. To address this issue, we conducted a laboratory-based experimental study in which we randomly assigned healthy young-adult females to either an acute emotional stress (emotionally evocative video) or no-stress (control video) condition. Salivary levels of the key pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 were measured before and after the experimental manipulation, and following the last cytokine sample, we assessed participants’ cognitive control of emotional information using an emotional Stroop task. We also assessed participants’ cortisol levels before and after the manipulation to verify that documented effects were specific to cytokines and not simply due to increased nonwater salivary output. As hypothesized, the emotional stressor triggered significant increases in IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8. Moreover, even in fully adjusted models, better cognitive control following the emotional (but not control) video predicted less pronounced cytokine responses to that stressor. In contrast, no effects were observed for cortisol. These data thus indicate that better cognitive control specifically following an emotional stressor is uniquely associated with less pronounced pro-inflammatory cytokine reactivity to such stress. These findings may therefore help explain why superior cognitive control portends better health over the lifespan.
Recommended Citation
Shields GS, Kuchenbecker SY, Pressman SD, Sumida KD, Slavich GM. Better cognitive control of emotional information is associated with reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine reactivity to emotional stress. Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands). 2016;19(1):63-68. doi:10.3109/10253890.2015.1121983.
Copyright
Wiley
Included in
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins Commons, Cell Biology Commons, Cells Commons, Fluids and Secretions Commons, Other Mental and Social Health Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons
Comments
This is the accepted version of the following article:
Shields GS, Kuchenbecker SY, Pressman SD, Sumida KD, Slavich GM. Better cognitive control of emotional information is associated with reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine reactivity to emotional stress. Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands). 2016;19(1):63-68. doi:10.3109/10253890.2015.1121983.
which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2015.1121983. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.