The Effect That Stress Has On Memory Retrieval (Essay Sample)

The effect that stress has on memory retrieval
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Abstract
Stress has severe effects on the human brains leading to critical effects such as memory loss and brain damage in a serious condition. Stress leads to the collapse of the normal memory receptors hence affecting the process of information retrieval in the short term, working and long-term memory in general. The general response of the body and the brain to various levels of stress and the resultant effects is addressed in details. The paper generally seeks to explain the effects of stress in the process of memory retrieval through experimental method, data presentation, data analysis, conclusion, and evaluation.
Introduction
Stress is a very general term that is used in the daily activities especially when things are not in order or area not going as had planned. Stress is therefore attributed to working under abnormal conditions posing some physiological pressure to the human body and the resultant effects as the body responds to these changes.
Stress is either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic stress is acute and chronic and is triggered by a cognitive challenge while the extrinsic one is realized by other factors that are not related to the cognitive mind. Stress poses a great danger to the normal body functioning calling for a recovery response which may include multiple systems ranging from metabolism to memory loss and muscles puckering. Stress is usually perceived at the brain through a series of hormonal signaling controlled automatic system which occurs immediately an uncertain occurrence emerges posing a danger or shock to all human/animals. The response triggered is known as flight-fight-reaction which prepares a person to flee or fight back to counter attacks the effect.
A sudden event occurrence like appearance of a lion in front of you or threats of being sucked from job then you meet the boss when you are late to work for example will send an instant message to the brain which triggers a cascade of hormonal increase including cortisol and adrenaline surging your body all over speeding the rate of blood circulation leading to glucose and fat mobilization for fast energy release, attention focusing and muscles preparation for a flight or flee. Stress arousal can be detrimental upon repetition in most cases leading to depression or heart diseases or even stroke and mental illness (Henckens et al, 2009, pp. 10111-10119).
In our case study, we are going to put much emphasis on the causes of stress, its effect on memory retrieval and possible consequences realized in the long run.
Experimental method
Using spatial learning and Pavlovian conditioning, researchers have been able to experiment the effects of stress on memory retrieval depending of whether the stress is intrinsic or extrinsic.
General structure of brain response to stress
Anytime there is an occurrence of a stressing situation in the body, the brain is the respondent to these effects through the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis.The general response of this process can be narrowed down into a diagrammatic representation as shown below:


Fig 1.0: The diagrammatic responseof the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis in response to stress.
Effects of stress to short term memory (STM) retrieval
Short-term memory (STM) is used to store small information for a small period of time. As depicted by the Miller’s Law, the memory of an average person can keep is approximately 9 objects lasting for just a few seconds in the brain. This depicts that, the ability of an individual to store the same information for a longer period is very small given that average memory ability is about 7 objects. The ability to keep the information in the brain longer can be effected by rehearsing and relating the information to other information already stored in the long term memory. Stress lowers the memory span of STM leading to the poor grasp of information and remembrance. Though most researchers use the working memory (WM) to evaluate the effects of stress on the memory level, the short term memory is the initiator of this process. Miller argues that stress affects the one-dimensional judgment and limits of the brain’s short-term memory mostly in bits and not in chunks as most people might think. Chunks are the largest unit that an individual can keep in the memory while a bit is the simplest form an individual can remember in the process of memory retrieval. The release of glucocorticoids (cortisol) which is an automatic stress biomarker sends an impulse of confusion to the hippocampus slowing down the way the amygdala and prefrontal cortex operates. Cortisol impairs the process of encoding and recalling by the hippocampus causing deliria and mild tremors to the affected individual. In such scenarios, individual experiences dizziness during the process of encoding and it is hard for him/her even to memorize a single item being addressed. As Muller argue, it’s easy to recall small bits of information as compared to huge chunks of data. Repeated information is also easy to recall than the first time information. In some individuals who try to recall such information in the short term memory under stressed conditions are likely to develop a migraine in future as compared to those who are stress-free thinkers.


Fig. 1.1: The structural formula of the major stress biomarker in the human body.
Another experiment conducted by Cowan supported Miller's findings adding that memory retrieval is slower in stressed older people and young children due to the slow activity of the hypothalamus and undeveloped cells respectively. Cowan argues that memory retrieval is faster in stressed adults who have about four chunks of magical numbers that increase their stake of memory and information retrieval, though at a slower rate as compared to when an individual memory is operating normally (Cowan, 2003, pp. 1107-1115). On the other Hand, Daniel Tammet supports the fact that the numeric limits of cognition in children can be affected by the physical scenario intricate by stress leading to poor results or unexpected memory retrieval. Daniel was able to realize this effect during his experiments with children who have autism by given them matchboxes with an equal number of match sticks to count and give the results. Children who were not suffering from autism are the only ones who got the accurate number of the sticks while the rest either missed the target by one or two sticks with serious conditions of even five wrong counts (Kim, 2011, pp. 225-228).
Effects of stress to working memory (WM) retrieval
Working memory is more similar to short-term memory and can be said to be the ability to store information partially awaiting manipulation to performing intricate errands, such as reasoning. When the body is stressed, working memory is more affected as compared to short-term memory by impairing it and in rare cases improving it. A study conducted by Duncko et al. supports that, the affirmative effect of tension revealed itself as a declined feedback time in accomplices, while the deleterious consequence of stress leads to more fabricated mistakes and alarms when related to a normal situation. The researchers conjecture this to be evocative of faster data dispensation, something that has been of help in a hostile situation. Anxiety has been seen to cause adverse effects to the ingredients of the working memory which are the directives of its operations. This includes the phonological loop, central executive, and the visuospatial sketchpad. All these components are used in the process of retrieving data with the visuo-partial sketchpaom controlling the spatial and visual activities of the STM, the phonological loop as the auditory for STM while the central executive acts as the general link to all these systems. It is clear that, these three components are the transmitters of information from the short term memory (WM) to the long-term memory. This, in turn, affects conceptualization of information and the general process of learning in the process of information retrieval form the LTM, the process is reversed hence if affected, the resultant information is corrupt and unreliable. Research has it that, the neural activity of the brain is generally affected by acute stress especially at the prefrontal cortex in human. Memory loss, migraine, and insomnia are common to people who have been affected by stress during their daily activities at a later age (Schwabe, 2012, pp. 1740-1749).
Sternberg's theory of intelligence clams that stress greatly affects the level of an individual to be creative, analytical and practical hence affecting recovery of information stored through this channels. Sternberg argues that, creative skills are crucial in deciding the originality of the content an individual is to retrieve while the analytical skills decide on whether the individual is the retrieved information is to the right and desirable form. When either of these decision-making tools is affected, the results are crippled functional ways of the brain leading to the lack of concentration and sound message retrieval hence fault information. In most occasions where an individual will find it possible to retrieve information, s/he will execute the process in a very slower rate as compared to when the individual could be at normal corridors. In this case, the individual will have to go through a long process of outlining the information to it first by drawing and sketching. This is followed by close monitory and proofreading of what is being realized from the process. All these stages are found under the Meta component dispensation, and the recital constituent would be the authentic painting. The knowledge-acquisition quota would be erudition of how to i...