Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience
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...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10835/10252 |
| _version_ | 1789406290154356736 |
|---|---|
| author | Baliyan, Shishir Cimadevilla, José Manuel Vidania, Silvia de Pulopulos, Matías M. Sandi, Carmen Venero, César |
| author_facet | Baliyan, Shishir Cimadevilla, José Manuel Vidania, Silvia de Pulopulos, Matías M. Sandi, Carmen Venero, César |
| author_sort | Baliyan, Shishir |
| collection | DSpace |
| description | 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. |
| format | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| id | oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-10252 |
| institution | Universidad de Cuenca |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-102522023-04-12T19:41:01Z Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience Baliyan, Shishir Cimadevilla, José Manuel Vidania, Silvia de Pulopulos, Matías M. Sandi, Carmen Venero, César social confinement COVID-19 individual differences stress cortisol working memory perspective-taking empathic concern perceived stress anxiety depression empathy 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. 2021-03-15T09:10:25Z 2021-03-15T09:10:25Z 2021-03-09 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2076-3425 http://hdl.handle.net/10835/10252 en https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/3/348 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess MDPI |
| spellingShingle | social confinement COVID-19 individual differences stress cortisol working memory perspective-taking empathic concern perceived stress anxiety depression empathy Baliyan, Shishir Cimadevilla, José Manuel Vidania, Silvia de Pulopulos, Matías M. Sandi, Carmen Venero, César Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience |
| title | Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience |
| title_full | Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience |
| title_fullStr | Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience |
| title_short | Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience |
| title_sort | differential susceptibility to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on working memory, empathy, and perceived stress: the role of cortisol and resilience |
| topic | social confinement COVID-19 individual differences stress cortisol working memory perspective-taking empathic concern perceived stress anxiety depression empathy |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10835/10252 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT baliyanshishir differentialsusceptibilitytotheimpactofthecovid19pandemiconworkingmemoryempathyandperceivedstresstheroleofcortisolandresilience AT cimadevillajosemanuel differentialsusceptibilitytotheimpactofthecovid19pandemiconworkingmemoryempathyandperceivedstresstheroleofcortisolandresilience AT vidaniasilviade differentialsusceptibilitytotheimpactofthecovid19pandemiconworkingmemoryempathyandperceivedstresstheroleofcortisolandresilience AT pulopulosmatiasm differentialsusceptibilitytotheimpactofthecovid19pandemiconworkingmemoryempathyandperceivedstresstheroleofcortisolandresilience AT sandicarmen differentialsusceptibilitytotheimpactofthecovid19pandemiconworkingmemoryempathyandperceivedstresstheroleofcortisolandresilience AT venerocesar differentialsusceptibilitytotheimpactofthecovid19pandemiconworkingmemoryempathyandperceivedstresstheroleofcortisolandresilience |