The Effect Stress Has on Working Memory

The Effect Stress has on Working Memory

Question

What is the effect of stress on working memory? Stress has been shown to influence working memory (Schoofs, Pabst, Brand, & Wolf, 2013). The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether the stress has a positive or negative impact on working memory. Many people either handle stress well in their daily lives or they succumb to the pressure. While many studies have been done to examine the implications of stress on our physical well-being, there is limited research on specifically how stress affects working memory.

Lit Review

Stress has been said to impair response inhibition and working memory. Mika, Mazur, Hoffman, Talboom, Bimonet-Nelson, Sanabria and Conrad (2012) examined what effects chronic restraint stress had on response inhibition and working memory. The researchers hypothesized that stress reduces the response inhibition capacity and impairs working memory. They measured the response inhibition capacity with a response-withholding task known as the FMI, fixed-minimum interval schedule of reinforcement. The researchers measured working memory by using a radial arm water maze, RAWM. In this study, adults male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on the RAWM and then on the FMI. In order to study the affects of stress, the rats were divided into a restraint stress condition or a control condition. The researchers manipulated the stress condition by either placing the control condition rats in their natural cages and the restraint stress condition rats in a wire mesh restrainer. After the chronic stress was administered, the rats were tested on FMI and on RAWM. The findings of the study supported the researchers hypothesis; chronic stress did impair both response inhibition ...

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...er working memory individuals performed better when they used the usual steps lower WM individuals generally take. In the lower-pressure condition, the lower the individuals’ working memory the more accurate they were by using simpler steps (Beilock & DeCaro, 2007). Beilock and DeCaro (2007) explained their findings as a result that WM availability influences how individuals approach math problems, with the complexity of the task performed and the pressure-level of their environment deciding which skills succeed and fail.

Hypothesis

Previous research has provided support to the hypothesis that stress is linked to an impairment of working memory. The greater the stress the more working memory is impaired due to a pressure-induced consumption of working memory. Meaning most of an individual’s attention and effort is given to coping with ever-present stressors in life.