The effect of stress on working memoryQuestionWhat is the effect of stress on working memory? Stress has been shown to affect working memory (Schoofs, Pabst, Brand, & Wolf, 2013). The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether stress has a positive or negative impact on working memory. Many people manage stress well in their daily lives or succumb to the pressure. While many studies have been conducted to examine the implications of stress on our physical well-being, research is limited on how stress specifically affects working memory. Stress is said to impair response inhibition and working memory. Mika, Mazur, Hoffman, Talboom, Bimonet-Nelson, Sanabria, and Conrad (2012) examined the effects of chronic restraint stress on response inhibition and working memory. Researchers have hypothesized that stress reduces response inhibition capacity and impairs working memory. They measured response inhibition ability with a response withholding task known as the FMI, Fixed Minimum Interval Schedule of Reinforcement. The researchers measured working memory using a radial arm water maze, RAWM. In this study, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on RAWM and then on IMF. To study the effects of stress, rats were divided into a restraint stress condition or a control condition. The researchers manipulated the stress condition by placing control rats in their natural cages and restraint stress rats in a wire mesh. After chronic stress administration, rats were tested on IMF and RAWM. The results of the study supported the researchers' hypothesis; chronic stress impaired both response inhibition... middle of paper... and individuals with working memory performed better when using the usual steps typically adopted by individuals with lower WM. In the lower pressure condition, the lower individuals' working memory, the higher their accuracy in using simpler passages (Beilock & DeCaro, 2007). Beilock and DeCaro (2007) explained their findings by stating that WM availability influences how individuals approach mathematics problems, with the complexity of the task performed and the level of pressure in their environment deciding which skills succeed and which ones fail. Hypothesis Previous research has provided support for the hypothesis that stress is linked to impaired working memory. The greater the stress, the greater the impairment of working memory due to pressure-induced working memory consumption. This means that most of an individual's attention and effort are devoted to dealing with the ever-present stressors in life.