The impact of acute psychological stress on declarative and working memory functioning

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorThomas, Kevinen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorHuman, Robynen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-02T10:59:09Z
dc.date.available2015-11-02T10:59:09Z
dc.date.issued2010en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 94-102).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractPrevious research has shown that stress affects processing in many different memory systems. This study aimed to investigate the effects of acute psychosocial stress on declarative memory (DM) and working memory (WM) performance, and to explore whether sex differences exist under stress in these two memory systems. DM was assessed using cued recall and recognition of a verbal paired-associates list. WM was assessed using an n-back test with various difficulty levels. One hundred (42 males) undergraduate psychology students from the University of Cape Town were recruited. Phase of menstrual cycle and oral contraceptive use were controlled for in female participants. Participants took part in two sessions, 24 hours apart, each beginning after 16h00. Day 1 involved learning and immediate cued recall of the word pairs, and completing a practice n-back protocol. During Day 2, 45 participants were exposed to a psychosocial stressor and 41 were exposed to a relaxation period. Physiological and self-report measures of stress were taken at three intervals pre- and post-experimental manipulation. Participants then completed delayed cued recall and recognition tests for the previously-learned word pairs, and the full version of the n-back test. Data were analysed only for participants characterised as 'cortisol responders' following the experimental manipulation. The final sample included 57 participants (30 males). With regard to DM, stress did not affect either delayed cued recall or recognition performance in either men or women. With regard to WM, stress negatively affected accuracy among men, but not women. These results are largely consistent with previous literature, but also elucidate a sex difference in working memory performance under stress (viz., while men's performance is negatively affected by stress, women show improved performance). The study provides important evidence for sex differences in WM performance under stress, and highlights several methodological issues that should be addressed in future studies.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationHuman, R. (2010). <i>The impact of acute psychological stress on declarative and working memory functioning</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14616en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationHuman, Robyn. <i>"The impact of acute psychological stress on declarative and working memory functioning."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14616en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationHuman, R. 2010. The impact of acute psychological stress on declarative and working memory functioning. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Human, Robyn AB - Previous research has shown that stress affects processing in many different memory systems. This study aimed to investigate the effects of acute psychosocial stress on declarative memory (DM) and working memory (WM) performance, and to explore whether sex differences exist under stress in these two memory systems. DM was assessed using cued recall and recognition of a verbal paired-associates list. WM was assessed using an n-back test with various difficulty levels. One hundred (42 males) undergraduate psychology students from the University of Cape Town were recruited. Phase of menstrual cycle and oral contraceptive use were controlled for in female participants. Participants took part in two sessions, 24 hours apart, each beginning after 16h00. Day 1 involved learning and immediate cued recall of the word pairs, and completing a practice n-back protocol. During Day 2, 45 participants were exposed to a psychosocial stressor and 41 were exposed to a relaxation period. Physiological and self-report measures of stress were taken at three intervals pre- and post-experimental manipulation. Participants then completed delayed cued recall and recognition tests for the previously-learned word pairs, and the full version of the n-back test. Data were analysed only for participants characterised as 'cortisol responders' following the experimental manipulation. The final sample included 57 participants (30 males). With regard to DM, stress did not affect either delayed cued recall or recognition performance in either men or women. With regard to WM, stress negatively affected accuracy among men, but not women. These results are largely consistent with previous literature, but also elucidate a sex difference in working memory performance under stress (viz., while men's performance is negatively affected by stress, women show improved performance). The study provides important evidence for sex differences in WM performance under stress, and highlights several methodological issues that should be addressed in future studies. DA - 2010 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2010 T1 - The impact of acute psychological stress on declarative and working memory functioning TI - The impact of acute psychological stress on declarative and working memory functioning UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14616 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14616
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationHuman R. The impact of acute psychological stress on declarative and working memory functioning. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology, 2010 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14616en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Psychologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherPsychological Researchen_ZA
dc.titleThe impact of acute psychological stress on declarative and working memory functioningen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2010_human_robyn.pdf
Size:
1.4 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters