Cognition Under Stress: The Impact of Social-Evaluative Stress During Cognitive Task Performance Research on the relationship between psychosocial stress and cognition is often contradictory demonstrating both enhancement and impairment of performance. We propose that the relationship between stress and cognition depends both on variability in stress response (challenge vs threat) and the cognitive system mediating performance (explicit vs procedural; Ell, Cosley & McCoy, 2011). In contrast to prior work where cognitive performance was examined post-stressor, we examined the consequences of a concurrent, social-evaluative, task-related stressor. Participants completed explicit cognitive tasks (e.g. WCST, n-back) while an evaluator in a lab coat took notes or with no evaluator present. Consistent with predictions, in the evaluator condition, the more threatened participants were (lower cardiac output, higher TPR) the lower their performance on the explicit task. Results provide preliminary support for use of a concurrent stressor and highlight the importance of considering variability in stress reactivity, and cognitive task, when investigating the stress-cognition relationship.

Faculty Mentor: Shannon McCoy