Stressed Out and Struggling to Concentrate: The Relationship Between Cortisol Reactivity and Cognitive Control in College Students

Authors

Katiasofia Gonzales, The College of WoosterFollow

Abstract

The transition to college life is a particularly stressful experience. However, we do not quite understand the extent of these stress levels or how they affect cognitive control. To address this question participants in their first and third semester of college completed an Emotional Stroop to measure cognitive control while Event-Related Potentials (ERP) were recorded to assess brain mechanisms, in particular Error Related Negativity (ERN) and Error Positivity (Pe). The Perceived Stress Scale, Rahe-Holmes Stress Life Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory were used to measure stress levels. Additional pre and post-test cortisol levels were measured through salivary samples. Results showed that there was trending but not significant difference between pre and post-cortisol measurements. Participants elicited more brain activation to errors than correct trials as measured with the ERN and illustrating how participants had different brain activity in response to their own mistakes. There was no significative interaction between cortisol reactivity and ERPs, nor with Perceived stress scores. The fact that the ERPs were different regarding accuracy demonstrates the validity of the Stroop test paired with EEG to explore cognitive control. Previous studies with similar methodology and larger sample sizes did find significant correlations between cortisol reactivity and ERPs, which suggest that this experiment could provide further exploration of how stress affects college students’ cognitive control with a larger sample size. This study provides then a blueprint for further exploration of the relationship between cortisol reactivity and cognitive control in the unique context of college life.

Advisor

Herzmann, Grit

Department

Neuroscience

Recommended Citation

Gonzales, Katiasofia, "Stressed Out and Struggling to Concentrate: The Relationship Between Cortisol Reactivity and Cognitive Control in College Students" (2023). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 10469.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/10469

Disciplines

Cognitive Neuroscience

Keywords

Cognitive Control, Stress, Cortisol, Cortisol Reactivity, EEG, ERP

Publication Date

2023

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis