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My research integrates perspectives from gerontology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience in order to understand how stress impacts cognitive processing across adulthood and how these stress effects are modulated by sex.
Stressful experiences are common in our everyday life and research has revealed that acute stress can alter brain activation and behavior. Most of the human studies on this topic have investigated stress effects on memory in young adults. Acute stress can also impact brain regions involved in decision making and an emerging literature indicates that both age and sex modulate stress effects on cognition; however, little is known about the mechanisms driving these effects across the lifespan. My research aims to help determine the neurophysiological mechanisms of stress effects on cognition across adulthood. Specifically, my studies examine how acute stress affects decision making about risk and reward by measuring stress and sex hormones, physiological arousal, behavior and brain activation using functional MRI.
Through this program of study, I hope to contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms involved in making decisions about risk and reward and how these mechanisms are impacted by aging.
NIA Individual National Research Service Award, Predoctoral Fellowship, F31AG038137-01A1: This project will examine how short-term stress may affect the neural mechanisms of reinforcement learning in younger and older adults.
Sponsor: Mara Mather, Co-sponsor: Antoine Bechara
Lighthall NR, Sakaki M, Vasunilashorn F, Nga L, Somayajula S, Chen EY, Samii N, Mather M. (in press). Gender differences in reward-related decision processing under stress. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. PDF Read online
Mather, M, Lighthall, NR, Nga, L, & Gorlick, MA (2010). Sex differences in how stress affects brain activity during face viewing. NeuroReport, 21, 933-937. PDF
Lighthall, NR, Mather, M, & Gorlick, MA. (2009). Acute stress increases sex differences in risk seeking in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. PLoS ONE, 4(7), e6002. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006002. PDF Read online
Mather, M, Gorlick, MA, & Lighthall, NR. (2009). To brake or accelerate when the light turns yellow? Stress reduces older adults' risk taking in a driving game. Psychological Science, 20, 174-176. PDF Driving game available here
Kryla-Lighthall, N, & Mather, M. (2009). The role of cognitive control in older adults' emotional well-being. In Berngtson, V., Gans, D., Putney, N., & Silverstein, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Theories of Aging, 2nd Edition, Springer Publishing, 323-344. PDF
O’Hara, R, Schroder, CM, Kraemer, HC, Kryla, N, Cao, C, Miller, E, Schatzberg, AF, Yesavage, JA, & Murphy, GM. (2005). Nocturnal sleep apnea/hypopnea is associated with lower memory performance in APOE e4 carriers. Neurology, 65, 642-644. PDF
Lighthall NR, Mather M, Frank MJ, Gorlick MA, Schoeke A. (2011). Stress modulates reinforcements learning in younger and older adults. Cognitive Neuroscience Society. San Francisco, CA.
Lighthall, NR, Sakaki, M, Vasunilashorn, S, Nga, L, Gorlick, MA, Somayajula, S, Mather, M. (2010). Stress effects on risk- and reward-related decision processing are modulated by sex. Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention. Boston, MA.
Lighthall, NR, Sakaki, M, Vasunilashorn, S, Somayajula, S, Mather, M. (2010). Stress alters reward-related decision processing but effects are modulated by sex. University of Southern California, Graduate and Professional Student Senate Poster Symposium. Los Angeles, CA.
Lighthall, NR, Sakaki, M, Vasunilashorn, S, Somayajula, S, Nga, L, Mather, M. (2009). Stress modulates sex differences in BOLD response and behavior during decision making. Society for Neuroeconomics. Evanston, IL.
Lighthall, N, Sakaki, M, Vasunilashorn, S, Somayajula, S, Chen, E, Nga, L, & Mather, M. (2009). Sex differences in stress effects on brain activation and behavior during risk taking. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA.
Lighthall, N, & Mather, M. (2008). Physiological response to the cold pressor task in younger and older adults. Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting. National Harbor, MD.
Kryla-Lighthall, N, Gorlick, M, Granger, DA, & Mather, M. (2008). Stress and emotional memory: Two stress systems with different effects? Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention. Chicago, IL.
Kryla-Lighthall, N, Gorlick, M, & Mather, M. (2007). The ties that bind: The impact of stress on memory binding in aging. Summer Training on Aging Research Topics in Mental Health (START-MH) Fellowship Program. La Jolla, CA.
Schroder, CM, Kryla, N, Barilov, Y, & O’Hara, R. (2006). Interaction of sleep apnea, cortisol and APOE on cognition in older adults. International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmocology Annual Meeting. Hiroshima, Japan.
Kryla, N, O’Hara, R, Miller, T, Zernik, D, Kraemer, H, Yesavage, J, Schatzberg, A, Tinklenberg, J, & Murphy, G. (2003). Apolipoprotein E genotype moderates the impact of cortisol and DHEA on cognition in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Summer Training on Aging Research Topics in Mental Health (START-MH) Fellowship Program. La Jolla, California.