Memory Under Stress
For some people, remembering anything can be difficult, but try
remembering anything when you are frightened or extremely stressed.
Memory is a very important cognitive skill. To remember anything,
our brains have to first organise it and then log it into our long-term
memory, ready for us to retrieve it when we need it.
How well we recall memories under stress depends on how we process
the actual stress. When we become stressed or frightened, our brains
become aroused and also distracted. And arousal affects our ability
to learn information and to consolidate memories. So under stress
it becomes more difficult for us to process new information, and
it gets disrupted so that the acquisition of new memory is impaired.
We produce stress hormones which relate to our level of arousal
which is connected to how well we cope with the stress. If we release
low levels of these stress hormones it may actually improve our
logging ability, but releasing higher levels are thought to make
it progressively worse.
Having a good memory helps to determine efficient performance and,
ultimately, can be a key factor in influencing whether we are a
success in life or not.
The Test
Our Memory Under Stress test consists of two parts:
A) The Rigorous Baseline Memory Test: our contestants conducted
a rigorous one hour and 10 minute test for memory known as the 'MQ'
- an standardised IQ test for memory - to give a more detailed picture
of their memory capacity. This is a battery of memory tests: the
Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) and the Digit Symbol-Coding,
Symbol Search and Matrix Reasoning tests from the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale-3rd edition (WAIS-III). It consisted of a series
of memory and recall exercises including recognition tests, scene
and word recall, memorising unrelated words together, visual reproduction
(reproducing designs from memory) and face recognition.
B) The Faces Test: our contestants were shown photographs
of 10 faces and their names and occupations. They were given just
a few second to memorise this information.
To create the stress required to test their memory, our contestants
were paired up and each contestant was strapped into a helicopter
crash simulator. They were then plunged into cold water and rotated
upside down. From here they had to escape by releasing their safety
bests, forcing open a door and swimming back to the surface - and
all on one breathe of air.
Once they reached the surface, they were immediately asked to recall
the names and occupations of the ten faces they were shown earlier.
And to make it even MORE difficult they had to complete our test
in the dark!
The Experts
Professor Linda Pring BSc,
PhD, C.Psychol, AFBPsS. (Psychologist) Goldsmiths, University of
London. Test devised by Professor
Andrew R. Mayes and Dr. Dmitris Tsivilis Department of psychology,
University of Liverpool.
Why Is It Superhuman To Be Good Memory?
Our ability to process and put certain kinds of semantic information
(i.e. factual information) into our memories quickly, and under
stress, is the most practical use of memory in real life and the
most impressive. For example, a policeman chasing a robber needs
to remember what the robber looked like and various facts about
the chase - in other words remembering key facts and details under
stress.
At work or in a crisis situation, Superhumans can remember things
quickly and don't need to be told things twice before it sinks in.
It is also an important facet of their social skills. To be able
to learn and remember names and faces is crucial in all walks of
life and those who can do so are more successful. Highly successful
people have an extraordinary ability to remember names and faces
amongst the millions of people they meet.
Scoring
Each contestant was scored for our Rigorous Baseline Memory Test
and awarded points. They were then scored in the Faces Test: each
face was worth two points each (one point each for recalling the
correct name and occupation) with a maximum of 20 points available.
The scores from the two tests were then added together.
Our Superhuman was the contestant who scored highest in the tests
and was best able to process the stress.
Click here to see the
final results >
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