Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
While acute anxiety or stress has been shown to enhance certain cognitive functions, such as memory for emotionally salient stimuli, its effects on memory for emotionally neutral information remain ambiguous. Successful memory encoding and retrieval often involve control processes—both self-initiated and directed—that dictate organization during learning. Previous research indicates that these processes facilitate the contextual binding and organization of information. However, multi-domain evidence suggests that stress during encoding may be disrupted due to changes in neural mechanisms at play. This dissertation explores how stress impairs cognitive control, identifies potential underlying neural correlates, and examines broader metacognitive influences. Chapter 1 begins by investigating the behavioral impacts of acute stress during encoding for threat-irrelevant information across two studies with varying levels of native organizational structure to examine cognitive control. This work provides evidence that stress impacts learning and does so by disrupting reliance on semantic organization for both related and unrelated word lists. Furthermore, results also highlight crucial temporal effects of stress induction, analyzing differential effects when stress is presented at the start of learning versus mid-task. Chapter 2 extends this investigation by analyzing electrophysiological dynamics related to stressful encoding and cognitive control processes. Although the replication attempt of impaired recall from Chapter 1 was unsuccessful, this chapter provides critical electrophysiological evidence showing that stress affects encoding processes, with these effects varying according to the timing of stress induction. Finally, Chapter 3 provides novel insight on how acute anxiety interacts with cognitive control and metamemory. Given the evidence from Chapters 1 and 2 of disrupted control processes like semantic organization under stress, coupled with established research on metamemory judgments of learning (JOLs) being influenced by perceptual fluency, it was hypothesized that stress would reduce JOL ratings and exacerbate fluency effects when font size varied. However, across three studies, stress did not significantly affect JOLs or fluency effects. Altogether, the works presented here provide new perspectives on the interplay between acute anxiety, cognitive control, memory, and metamemory processes for neutral information while simultaneously establishing a foundation for understanding the influence of induction timing on these processes.
Date
10-29-2024
Recommended Citation
Chaisson, Felicia M., "Stress on the Brain: An Investigation into the Impact of Stress on Learning, Memory, And Metamemory Processes" (2024). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 6615.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/6615
Committee Chair
Lucas, Heather D.