Doctoral Dissertation Research: Temporal Organization of Emotion Responses to Stress

University Of Oregon Eugene, Eugene OR

Investigators

Abstract

Never let them see you sweat. Despite the reverence given to this popular adage, when the pressure mounts, sometimes our emotions get the better of us. Emotional reactions to stress sometimes interfere with tasks we must accomplish, including tasks that rely on memory. A speaker may become too anxious to remember the details of the speech, or a parent may become too upset to remember where the car keys were left. However, sometimes, memory is enhanced under stress and other times there is no apparent effect. People differ in personality, experience, and physiology, and they have very different emotional reactions to stressful events. In fact, differences in emotional response to stress more strongly affect memory than the stressors themselves With NSF support and under the supervision of Dr. Holly Arrow, Ms. Stacey Pederson will conduct a comprehensive study of physiological, psychological, and contextual factors that relate emotion to stress and memory. Using portable computers, participants track their moods and emotional events over a two-week period. Concurrent with the computer diary study, participants' emotional, physiological, and neurological responses will be measured in the laboratory as they complete memory tasks under various stressful conditions. The combination of laboratory experiments and evaluations of everyday emotional experiences is a noteworthy feature of Ms. Pederson's project. The broader impacts of her work may include the development of more effective and efficient strategies for coping with stressful experiences.