Online-induced acute stress: sex-dependent improvements in executive function in older adults

Acute stress is a ubiquitous feature of everyday life, affecting young and old alike. Though it is generally thought to exert detrimental effects on executive functions, the effects of acute stress on cognitive processing have largely been studied in younger, college-aged populations. In this study we tested the effects of acute stress on working memory and executive control in a large sample of male and female middle and older-aged participants using a fully remote online stress paradigm. Participants (n=132, age: 43-74) were randomly assigned to either a control or stress condition, which consisted of a challenging arithmetic task with false normative feedback and distressing videos. All participants rated their affective state and perceived stress levels throughout the experiment. To evaluate the effects of stress on cognitive performance, participants completed a spatial working memory task (Corsi block tapping) before and after the manipulation as well as a verbal working memory task (n-back) and executive control task (Stroop color-word interference) after the manipulation. As expected, the Stress group reported significantly worse mood than the control group, indicating the effectiveness of our online protocol. Behaviorally, we found a generally beneficial effect of stress on cognitive performance, though, notably, stress-induced benefits varied by sex in a task-dependent manner. Our results suggest that in middle and older aged adults acute stress is generally associated with improvements rather than impairments in executive function, which may reflect the ability to recruit additional resources for cognitive processing in a way that is sex dependent.