The Impact of Stress on Accuracy of Memory in University Students

The Impact of Stress on Accuracy of Memory in University Students

Your Name : Celine Gan Chi Ching


Unit Name and Code : Psychology 1B, PSY 1022

Due Date : Thursday Oct 15, 4.00 pm

Allocated Lectorial Stream : Monday, 4pm-6pm


Word Count : 1468 words

Abstract

This study aims to test whether stress influences the accuracy of human memory among university students. Higher stress levels is hypothesised to result in more errors made when recalling memories. Participants will be 100 second year Science students from Monash University Malaysia. Participants will be students equally separated into two groups given being exposed to stress and not being exposed to stress. Participants will need to run through a little activity involving the induction of stress and testing their performance of memory. They will need to precisely recall details of the given task, and scores will be rewarded. It is predicted that high levels of stress have direct and negative impacts on University student’s memories, thus interfering with their academic fuctioning. Students being exposed to highly stressful environments tend to make more mistakes and are less alert. Optimum performance will not be achieve under stress, as students may feel uneasy and distracted.

 Stress is a common experience, which exerts complex effects on cognition including the human memory (Schwabe, Haddad & Schachinger, 2008; Zoladz et al., 2014). Memory can be strengthened or impaired by stress (Luethi et al., 2008; Smeets et al., 2009). Especially among students, many findings has proved that stress impacts human memories. Students are often required to constantly manipulate and learn new information as well as retrieve memories in arousing or stressful environments (Quesada, Wiemers, Schoofs & Wolf, 2012).

Schwabe & Wolf, (2010) evidently showed that memory is affected when people learn while they are stressed. They found a memory impairing effect of learning under stress, and has challenged previous findings and theories about stress and the time of learning on memory formation. While documentations exists, to increase memory effects of consolidation stress are regulated by time of day, however no study to date has investigated whether stress-induced retrieval deficits are also prone to such time of day effects (Smeets, 2011). Smeets have found the strength of stress-induced retrieval deficits throughout the day, partilularly involving emotional memory. The importance of cortisol reactivity in impairing memory retrieval is also underlined.

Some studies has provided significant intuitions regarding