Why doesn't the memory of stress disappear easily?
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People quickly forget their memories of their daily walks, but it's hard to forget about stressful situations such as job interviews. A German research team clarified why stressed experiences remain memorable for a long period of time by 'stressing people in interviews and observing brain activity.'
The memory trace of a stressful episode --ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982221012847
Why do we remember stressful experiences better? --Newsportal --Ruhr-Universität Bochum
https://news.rub.de/english/press-releases/2021-10-15-psychology-why-do-we-remember-stressful-experiences-better
We May Have Just Discovered Why Stressful Events Loom So Large in Memory
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-may-now-understand-why-we-remember-stressful-events-more
A research team, including Oliver Wolf, a neuropsychologist at Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany, conducted an experiment to stress subjects using the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). TSST is an experimental protocol that asks subjects to give a speech that mimics a job interview in front of a judge, and is literally widely used as a way to induce stress in people.
The research team first asked the subjects to interview and 'present in a neutral position.' At this time, 33 people who participated in the experiment received a 'stress-inducing interview', while 31 people in the control group received a friendly interview with less stress. Specifically, the control group discussed positive topics and received positive feedback from the interviewer. During the experiment, the subjects in both groups were shown 24 kinds of objects such as coffee cups and pens in some way and treated them as topics.
After the experiment, the research team used fMRI to scan the subject's brain to observe the movement of the amygdala, which plays a major role in the processing and memory of emotional responses. As a result, when a stressed interviewed subject revisited an object he saw during the interview, the traces of neurons were similar to each other, but he saw an object that did not appear during the interview. It is said that the same kind of similarity was not found in the traces of neurons at the time of stress. This phenomenon occurs not only by looking at the object but also by looking at the interviewer's face. On the other hand, in the control group, no neuron similarity was seen even when the object was shown, so the eyes were 'when stressed'. It has been suggested that the stressed objects cause certain patterns in the brain.
by CIPHR Connect
From this experiment, the research team concluded that 'the stressed memory is strengthened because the emotions experienced and the objects associated with them, the triggers of stress, are more closely linked in the brain.' .. The research team also reports the difference that things experienced in a stress-free state are associated with the hippocampus, which is related to learning and memory, and things experienced in a state of increased emotion are associated with the amygdala.
The study is small and limited in that it is based on one scenario, but the team says the results of the experiment were clear and could be applied to other situations. In addition, this research, which highlights the relationship between emotions and memory, could be useful for the treatment of mental disorders in the future.
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