The biological effect of stress on memory during healthy ageing

We are living in an ageing population. Roughly one in five people in the UK are aged over 65. Understanding the factors involved in healthy ageing has therefore been identified as one of the "grand challenges" of science and technology. Our ability to handle stress has recently been identified as a crucial factor, as it is significantly associated with cognitive abilities - such as memory - and mood, and with a number of brain and body changes linked to poor ageing (1).

This project will examine how stress impacts upon cognition using a number of complementary approaches. First, we will examine how physiological arousal during stress impacts upon memory for personally relevant information. This allows us to answer an outstanding question in the literature on emotional memory about the influence of the physiological stress response on early and late long-term memory (2). Second, we will examine how ageing affects the link between stress and memory, offering insight into the mechanisms through which maladaptive stress-response impacts upon cognitive, psychological and biological markers of wellbeing in ageing. Third, we will use multi-modal neuroimaging, including diffusion MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (see 3,4,5), to explore how variation in brain structure and function underpins stress-response in older adults, influencing cognitive ability.

Throughout this project, the candidate will have the opportunity to work in a thriving academic environment, but also to spend time with our industrial collaborator, Bioxydyn, developing neuroimaging techniques for the medical imaging services industry.

References:
1. Slavich GM, Irwin MR. 2014. From Stress to Inflammation and Major Depressive Disorder: A Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression. Psychological Bulletin, 140: 774-815.
2. Talmi D. 2014. Enhanced emotional memory: cognitive and neural mechanisms. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22: 430-6.
3. Cawley N, Solanky BS, Muhlert N et al. 2015. Reduced gamma-aminobutyric acid concentration is associated with physical disability in progressive multiple sclerosis. Brain, 138: 2584-95.
4. Muhlert N, Sethi V, Cipolotti L et al. 2015. The grey matter correlates of impaired decision-making in multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 86: 530-536.
5. Cercignani M, Embleton K, Parker GJM et al. 2013. Group-averaged anatomical connectivity mapping for improved human white matter pathway visualisation. NMR in Biomedicine, 25: 1224-33.