Stress and Memory

Previous work has demonstrated that exposure to acute stress, under specific conditions, may shift the balance between these systems towards the habitual system. In the current study, we used a two-day outcome devaluation paradigm with a 75% reward contingency rate and altered food reward categories to replicate and extend our previous findings.

Participants learned neutral stimulus-response-reward associations on the first day. On the second day, rewards were devalued by eating to satiety. Subsequently, acute stress was induced in half of the participants using the Maastricht Acute Stress Test, while the other half engaged in a non-stressful control task.