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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2018 Dec 4;4(3):310–320. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.11.007

Figure 1. Study Timeline.

Figure 1.

Participant eligibility was determined by conducting screening interviews over the phone and in person. Study participation consisted of two memory encoding sessions and two recall test sessions in the lab, in addition to a dexamethasone suppression test (DST) at home. During encoding sessions, which typically occurred 1 week apart, participants completed an emotional memory encoding task approximately 90 minutes after taking a pill containing either 20 mg cortisol (CORT) or placebo. Drug order was randomized across the two sessions and double-blinded. Memory recall for the pictures was tested 48 hours later. All experimental sessions were conducted late in the day when endogenous cortisol levels are relatively low. Participants also completed a DST, which included saliva sampling at home for 4 days (Monday through Thursday). Immediately after collecting the 10pm sample on Day 3, participants took a pill containing a low dose of dexamethasone (0.25 mg). Cortisol response to dexamethasone was measured on Day 4. The majority of DSTs were completed within 10 days of memory testing.