Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience.

Shishir Baliyan,César Venero,José Cimadevilla,Carmen Sandi,Matías Pulopulos,Silvia De Vidania

doi:10.3390/brainsci11030348

Abstract

There are important individual differences in adaptation and reactivity to stressful challenges. Being subjected to strict social confinement is a distressful psychological experience leading to reduced emotional well-being, but it is not known how it can affect the cognitive and empathic tendencies of different individuals. Cortisol, a key glucocorticoid in humans, is a strong modulator of brain function, behavior, and cognition, and the diurnal cortisol rhythm has been postulated to interact with environmental stressors to predict stress adaptation. The present study investigates in 45 young adults (21.09 years old, SD = 6.42) whether pre-pandemic diurnal cortisol indices, overall diurnal cortisol secretion (AUCg) and cortisol awakening response (CAR) can predict individuals’ differential susceptibility to the impact of strict social confinement during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on working memory, empathy, and perceived stress. We observed that, following long-term home confinement, there was an increase in subjects’ perceived stress and cognitive empathy scores, as well as an improvement in visuospatial working memory. Moreover, during confinement, resilient coping moderated the relationship between perceived stress scores and pre-pandemic AUCg and CAR. In addition, in mediation models, we observed a direct effect of AUCg and an indirect effect of both CAR and AUCg, on change in perceived self-efficacy. These effects were parallelly mediated by the increase in working memory span and cognitive empathy. In summary, our findings reveal the role of the diurnal pattern of cortisol in predicting the emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting a potential biomarker for the identification of at-risk groups following public health crises.

Highlights

IntroductionIn only a few months from its start, there were already reports indicating its negative impact on mental health, including increased rates of anxiety, depression, and stress perception [1,2]
Paired samples tests indicated a significant increase in self-perceived helplessness and total perceived stress (t(40) = −3.707, p = 0.004 and z = −2.563, p = 0.01, respectively), but there were no significant changes in perceived self-efficacy (z = −1.861, p = 0.06) (Figure 3a)
There was a significant increase in perspective-taking (t(44) = −3.431, p < 0.01; Table 2), whereas there was no change observed in Empathic Concern (z = −0.515, p = 0.61; Table 2) (Figure 3b)

Summary

Introduction

In only a few months from its start, there were already reports indicating its negative impact on mental health, including increased rates of anxiety, depression, and stress perception [1,2]. These studies add to the extensive literature about the behavioral and cognitive effects of stress exposure [3,4,5,6]. A growing number of studies have shown that stress can impact social behaviors (e.g., prosocial behavior [7]; empathy [8,9]) and cognition, especially for executive functions

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion