Table 2. Human Studies of Post-Encoding Cortisol Effects on Memory.

Studies are arranged by the direction of the primary effects observed, with post-encoding cortisol administration studies that showed a benefit on subsequent memory coming first. A visual examination of the table reveals that sleep may be an important factor in the direction of results, with the majority of studies that administered cortisol during wake finding a positive effect, while the majority of studies that administered cortisol during sleep finding a negative effect.

Authors	Drug Administration	Drug Delay	% Male	Stimuli	Were Stimuli Emotional?	Retrieval Test	Test Delay	Sleep?	Effect	Notes
Wilhelm et al., 2011	IV Cort (13 mg)	15 min	100%	Story	Yes	Recall, Recognition, Temporal Order	6 hours	No	+	Effects for temporal order only, no effect on item memory
De Quervain et al., 2000	Oral Cort (25mg)	0	50%	Words	No	Recall & Recognition	0 & 24 hours	No	o
Van Marle et al., 2013	Oral Cort (20mg)	15 min	100%	Pictures	Yes	Recognition	24 hours	Yes	o
Wilhelm et al., 2011	IV Cort (13 mg)	15 min	100%	Story	Yes	Recall, Recognition, Temporal Order	6 hours	Yes	−	Effects for temporal order only, no effect on item memory
Plihal & Born, 1999	IV Cort (13 mg)	15 min	100%	Word Pairs	No	Recall	3 hours	Yes	−

Note: + represents an enhancing effect of cortisol on memory, o represents a null effect, and - represents an impairing negative effect.