Neurosciences and psychotherapy: back to the basics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33898/rdp.v16i61.938Keywords:
cognitive neurosciences, psychotherapy, stress, research, spatial working memoryAbstract
Cognitive neuroscience research has been recently advanced as central for a scientific foundation of psychotherapeutic treatment In fact, understanding how the maintenance, survival or neurological change is mediated psychological processes, is fundamental for advancing our knowledge about the mechanisms of psychotherapy treatment. This study is an attempt to bring psychotherapy closer to neurocognitive research in order to foster understanding on the neurobiological effects of therapeutic equivalent tasks in reverting the effects of chronic stress. More specifically, this study aims: (1) To compare spatial working memory and behavioural flexibility performances in groups of adult rats submitted to chronic unpredictable stress and age-matched controls; and (2) To test the modulatory effects of a cognitive treatment-equivalent task intended to counteract the effects of chronic unpredictable stress. The results confirm that stress impairs reference memory as well as spatial working memory and reversal learning tasks. More important, this study also demonstrates that the detrimental effects of stress on spatial working memory can be attenuated by a cognitive treatment equivalent task introduced in the late phase of the stress exposure, an effect that seems to be group (i.e., stressed animals) and task specific (i.e, spatial working memory).
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