Kirschbaum, C., Wolf, O. T., May, M., Wippich, W., &Hellhammer, D. H. (1996). Stress-and treatment-induced elevations of cortisol levels associated with impaired declarative memory in healthy adults.
Two studies investigated the association between cortisol levels and memory performance in healthy adults. In a first study, 13 subjects were exposed to a brief psychosocial laboratory stress (“Trier Social Stress Test”) with a subsequent test of declarative memory performance. Results indicated a significant negative relationship between stress-induced cortisol levels and performance in the memory Task, I.e. subjects with high cortisol response to the stressor ...