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Stress
The International Journal on the Biology of Stress
Volume 25, 2022 - Issue 1
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Research Article

The cortisol awakening response and the late positive potentials evoked by unpleasant emotional pictures in healthy adults

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Pages 40-47 | Received 11 May 2021, Accepted 16 Nov 2021, Published online: 09 Dec 2021
 

Abstract

The cortisol awakening response (CAR) refers to a sharp rise in cortisol concentrations within the 45 min following morning awakening. Alterations in CAR have been associated with various internalizing symptoms and brain function. The current study aimed to investigate the association between CAR and neural activity in response to unpleasant emotional pictures. A total of 46 healthy adults (22.55 years ± 1.69) collected saliva samples at 0, 30, and 45 min post-awakening on two days to assess the CAR. In the afternoon after CAR measurement on the first day, electroencephalograms were recorded when the participants completed a passive viewing task. The results showed that a greater CAR was associated with a decreased late positive potential difference score between unpleasant and neutral stimuli. This finding indicates that a larger CAR may be associated with decreased attentional engagement to unpleasant emotional information in healthy adults.

Author Contributors

Author S.X. collected and analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. Author N.X. participated in the interpretation of the data. Author W.J.H. designed the study and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 List of stimuli: Unpleasant (1111, 1275, 2751, 3015, 3051, 3062, 3064, 3102, 3130, 3160, 3550, 6244, 6530, 6834, 9007, 9120, 9180, 9253, 9400, 9405, 9415, 9430, 9432, 9433, 9500, 9520, 9530, 9592, 9611, 9920) and neutral (2214, 2215, 2372, 2381, 2383, 2440, 2480, 2495, 2514, 2516, 2580, 2749, 2850, 2870, 2880, 5520, 5530, 5740, 6150, 7004, 7006, 7031, 7034, 7060, 7090, 7185, 7187, 7205, 7234, 7950).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31900787; 31771246].