Acute stress enhances general-knowledge semantic memory.
Acute psychological stress consistently impairs episodic memory, which consists of memory for events that are associated with a specific context. However, researchers have not yet established how stress influences semantic memory, which consists of general knowledge that is devoid of context. In the present study, participants either underwent stress induction or a control task prior to taking a trivia test that was designed to measure semantic memory. In contrast to the wealth of prior research on episodic memory, we found that stress enhanced semantic-memory retrieval. Supporting this finding, higher cortisol reactivity to stress was associated with better performance on the trivia test. Together with the results from previous studies of episodic memory, our findings suggest that stress differentially influences memory retrieval, depending on the degree to which the retrieval of a given memory relies on medial-temporal, neocortical, and striatal brain regions.
['Smith|Amy M|AM|', 'Hughes|Gregory I|GI|', 'Davis|F Caroline|FC|', 'Thomas|Ayanna K|AK|']
D000208:Acute Disease D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D001921:Brain D001931:Brain Mapping D005260:Female D006801:Humans D019359:Knowledge D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging D008297:Male D008568:Memory D011939:Mental Recall D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D012660:Semantics D013315:Stress, Psychological D055815:Young Adult
Stress Semantic memory Retrieval Cortisol