Construct an Argument That Stress Impacts the Ability to Recall

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Examlex · Accepted Answer

The Answer is Stress has been shown to have a significant impact on the ability to recall information. Numerous experiments have investigated the relationship between stress hormones and memory functions, providing compelling evidence for this claim.

One such experiment was conducted by Lupien and colleagues in 1997, where they found that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol were associated with impaired memory retrieval. In the study, participants were exposed to a stressful situation and then asked to recall a list of words. The results showed that individuals with higher cortisol levels had a harder time remembering the words compared to those with lower cortisol levels.

Furthermore, a study by Kuhlmann and Wolf in 2006 demonstrated that stress can specifically impair the retrieval of memories, rather than their encoding or storage. Participants in the study were exposed to a stress-inducing task before being asked to recall previously learned information. The results showed that the stressed participants had more difficulty retrieving the information compared to non-stressed participants, indicating a direct impact of stress on memory recall.

Additionally, a meta-analysis conducted by Shields and Sazma in 2016 found consistent evidence for the negative impact of stress on memory retrieval across various studies. The analysis revealed that stress was associated with decreased performance on memory tasks, further supporting the argument that stress impairs the ability to recall information.

In conclusion, the data from these experiments provide strong evidence for the impact of stress on memory recall. The findings consistently show that stress hormones, such as cortisol, can impair the retrieval of memories, highlighting the detrimental effects of stress on memory functions. Therefore, it can be argued that stress does indeed impact the ability to recall information.

Construct an Argument That Stress Impacts the Ability to Recall

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