Stress-Induced Impairment of Spatial Navigation in Females

Earlier work predicted that the physiological effects of an acute stressor disrupt a neurological system underlying cognitive-map (CM) guided navigation, but leave intact systems underlying landmark (LM) guided navigation. This prediction has been only partially confirmed. Furthermore, no-one has investigated sex differences in the relations between acute stress and spatial navigation, even though stress affects verbal memory and decision-making performance of males and females differently. We administered the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a standardized laboratory procedure designed to induce mild psychosocial stress, to 15 healthy undergraduates to examine the effects of acute stress on CM- and LM-guided navigation in men and women. They, and a demographically matched control group of 14 undergraduates, completed a virtual environment navigation task. Exposure to the TSST disrupted CM-guided (but not LM-guided) navigation in women, but affected neither in men. The data partially support the previous work, and offer novel findings regarding the relative vulnerability to acute psychosocial stress of CM-based navigation in females.