Stressed Memories (APA Citation) Stressed Memories

In the article titled "Stressed Memories: How Acute Stress Affects Memory Formation in Humans" researchers studied the hypothesis that acute stress can improve the formation of memory in the human brain. According to the authors, "Information encoded into memory during stressful experiences is generally well remembered." (Henckens, 2009, p.10111) In other words, what people experience during stressful or traumatic events is better remembered than experiences that occur under normal, or non-stressful conditions. The researchers in this article wanted to study the affects of stress on memory formation and determine the physiological processes that occur in the brain.

The study participants consisted of eighteen right-handed male volunteers ranging in age from 19 to 31 years with a median age of 22 years. There were a number of criteria which excluded participants including "history of head injury, treatment with psychotropic medications,...

(Henckens, p.10112) The test consisted of subjects having their brains scanned by a fMRI while being shown a number of pictures. Interspersed among the pictures, subjects were shown short movie clips of a violent or stressful nature which induced a stressful state. This state of stress was confirmed through both physiological and psychological means. One day after the test subjects were brought back in order to be quizzed on the photos and how well the subjects remembered the details of the pictures.
After conducting the experiment the researchers concluded that "acute stress profoundly affected the neural correlates of memory formation, and it did so in a region-specific manner." (Henckens, p.10116) What this means is that…