title: Better cognitive control of emotional information is associated with reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine reactivity to emotional stress.
abstract: Stress is strongly associated with several mental and physical health problems that involve inflammation, including asthma, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and depression. It has been hypothesized that better cognitive control of emotional information may lead to reduced inflammatory reactivity to stress and thus better health, but to date no studies have examined whether differences in cognitive control predict pro-inflammatory cytokine responses to stress. To address this issue, we conducted a laboratory-based experimental study in which we randomly assigned healthy young-adult females to either an acute emotional stress (emotionally evocative video) or no-stress (control video) condition. Salivary levels of the key pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 were measured before and after the experimental manipulation, and following the last cytokine sample, we assessed participants' cognitive control of emotional information using an emotional Stroop task. We also assessed participants' cortisol levels before and after the manipulation to verify that documented effects were specific to cytokines and not simply due to increased nonwater salivary output. As hypothesized, the emotional stressor triggered significant increases in IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8. Moreover, even in fully adjusted models, better cognitive control following the emotional (but not control) video predicted less pronounced cytokine responses to that stressor. In contrast, no effects were observed for cortisol. These data thus indicate that better cognitive control specifically following an emotional stressor is uniquely associated with less pronounced pro-inflammatory cytokine reactivity to such stress. These findings may therefore help explain why superior cognitive control portends better health over the lifespan.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of California , Davis , CA , USA .
authors.forename: Grant S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University , Orange , CA , USA .
authors.forename: Shari Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kuchenbecker
authors.affiliation: c Department of Psychology and Social Behavior , University of California , Irvine , CA , USA .
authors.forename: Sarah D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Pressman
authors.affiliation: d Crean College of Health & Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University , Orange , CA , USA , and.
authors.forename: Ken D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Sumida
authors.affiliation: e Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California , Los Angeles , CA , USA.
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Slavich
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003071:Cognition; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D007249:Inflammation; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000276:immunology*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000276:immunology*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000276:immunology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D057190:Stroop Test; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C508606:CXCL8 protein, human; D016207:Cytokines; C508585:IL1B protein, human; C508600:IL6 protein, human; D053583:Interleukin-1beta; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016209:Interleukin-8; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Life stress; Stroop; cognition; cortisol; cytokine; disease; emotion; health; inflammation; risk