Effects of Physiological Stress Response on Short-Term Memory Recall
File(s)
Date
2017Author
Holtz, Lauren
Martinez, Martin
Paton, Karly
Rosich, Konstantin
Schnittka, Emma
Publisher
Journal of Advanced Student Sciences (JASS)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
A variety of studies have explored the effects of stress on short-term memory formation
and recollection. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of physiological stress
response on short term memory. Stress response was evaluated by measuring changes in
respiration rate, electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate in response to an unanticipated
stressor—the sounding of an air horn. Subsequently, researchers sought to observe the
implication of this stress response on participant memorization of two lists of words. Participants
were run in two trials. The first trial served as the control condition and no stressor was presented
during word memorization or recall. During the second trial, the experimental condition, the
stressor was presented before recall. It was hypothesized that an increase in physiological values
from baseline values would decrease the number of words memorized. Results found that in
every trial a stress response was elicited; that is, values in respiration rate, EDA and heart rate
deviated from baseline data. However, the intensity of the stress response did not significantly
affect memory test performance. Overall, this data suggested that no correlation can be made
between the degree of physiological stress response and the success of short-term memory recall.
Subject
distraction
electrodermal activity (EDA)
heart rate
recall
respiration
stress
sound
word recognition
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/81871Description
An article that appeared in JASS, issue 2017