Mritsa Week 16: How Stress Negatively Affects Your Memory
With AP season almost ending, learn how stress negatively affects your memory!
Stress can severely disrupt how memories are formed. Studies indicate that high levels of stress make it difficult for individuals to create “short-term memories and convert them into long-term ones.” This means that during stressful periods, learning new information becomes challenging. Moreover, “stress can alter existing memories.” Every time we recall a memory, it gets slightly modified by our current state and experiences, therefore, high stress can distort our recollections, making them less accurate over time.
The type of memory formed under stress is also affected. Events experienced during stressful times may be remembered with less accuracy. This phenomenon explains why eyewitness testimonies can be unreliable. Stress “influences our perception and recall ability,” making it harder to remember details accurately. Additionally, if questioned about an event and provided with misleading information, our memory can adopt these inaccuracies, “leading to the creation of false memories.” This is a significant issue in situations where precise recall is crucial, such as during tests.
A meta-analysis of 113 studies provides further insights into the stress-memory relationship. One key finding is the timing of the stressor. Stress occurring before or during memory encoding “impedes memory formation,” whereas stress experienced after encoding can actually enhance memory retrieval. Interestingly, the amount of cortisol—a hormone released during stress—does not necessarily correlate with memory impairment. This suggests that individual hormonal responses to stress vary widely in their impact on memory.
Chronic stress can lead to exhaustion, which in turn impairs cognitive functions, including “attention and working memory.” Alarmingly, memory impairments due to stress-related exhaustion can persist for years, even after the initial stressor has been resolved. This highlights the critical importance of managing stress proactively to prevent long-lasting cognitive deficits.
While a little stress can drive productivity, excessive stress is harmful to memory formation and recall. Especially since all of us are stressed during AP season, I wish you the best of luck memorizing information.
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Hi Mritsa! Considering that we just finished AP exams, I found your blog to be appealing since I could relate to it. Furthermore, stress is something that I struggle with avoiding, so that also compelled me to engage with your blog. Nevertheless, I think it is common knowledge that stress negatively affects your mental health in general. However, I appreciate your discussion about the science behind why this happens. The part that stuck out to me the most was the ability of stress to modify our memories and harm our ability to accurately remember content. That was fascinating to me because I never realized that my current state of mind could influence how I remember things. Another aspect that was interesting to me was the fact that stress is not necessarily bad for you. Given that stress has always been painted as a bad thing to have, it was extremely surprising to find out that stress can contribute to memory retention if it occurs after encoding. I think this goes to show the versatility of the human mind—a complex structure that we are still striving to understand. It behaves in strange ways, such as the one highlighted in your blog. A little stress can enhance its abilities, whereas too much stress can dampen its abilities. Since I am writing this comment after AP season, your last few statements do not exactly apply anymore. However, their message does have a general applicability to any activity that requires memory. While it is okay to have some stress when approaching a task, stress management is crucial in ensuring that you have an optimal performance.
ReplyDeleteHi Mritsa,
ReplyDeleteYour blog on the impact of stress on memory is incredibly timely and relevant, especially as AP season comes to a close. The way stress interferes with the formation and recall of memories is a critical issue for students who rely heavily on their ability to retain vast amounts of information. Your point about stress altering existing memories is particularly eye-opening, as it underscores how our current emotional states can distort our past experiences. This not only affects academic performance but also personal recollections and interactions. The differentiation between stress before, during, and after memory encoding is fascinating. It suggests that while we might not be able to eliminate stress entirely, understanding its timing could help us mitigate its negative effects. Additionally, your mention of chronic stress leading to long-term cognitive impairments highlights the importance of developing effective stress management strategies. As we navigate through stressful periods, particularly during high-stakes testing seasons like AP exams, it's crucial to find ways to balance our stress levels. Whether through mindfulness, better time management, or seeking support from peers and mentors, proactive stress management can safeguard our cognitive health. Thank you for shedding light on this important issue and providing a thoughtful analysis that can help many students.
Hi Miritsa! I enjoyed reading your informative and very timely blog which included many helpful tips for finals, considering I am reading this blog after AP tests. Although I was aware that sleep deprivation was detrimental to focusing on tests, which I discovered in my blog this week, I was not aware it had such a negative impact on memory recollection as well. While reading your piece this week, I enjoyed your numbers appeals to logos through the inclusion of multiple studies which were very convincing in conveying your argument. In addition, I found it very interesting that there was a direct correlation between increased stress and decreased memory retention levels. Although this makes sense in hindsight, I found throughout finals or AP testing week I was always in a heightened sense of anxiety and stress which could have contributed to performance which was not up to par with my normal work. Although it is easier said than done, I am proud to say during finals week, I did not stay up past 10:00 PM the days before each of my AP exams. Thank you for sharing your experiences and for this timely reminder!
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