Writing About Past Failures Attenuates Cortisol Responses and Sustained Attention Deficits Following Psychosocial Stress

DiMenichi, Brynne C. and Lempert, Karolina M. and Bejjani, Christina and Tricomi, Elizabeth (2018) Writing About Past Failures Attenuates Cortisol Responses and Sustained Attention Deficits Following Psychosocial Stress. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12. ISSN 1662-5153

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Abstract

Acute stress can harm performance. Paradoxically, writing about stressful events—such as past failures—has been shown to improve cognitive functioning and performance, especially in tasks that require sustained attention. Yet, there is little physiological evidence for whether writing about past failures or other negative events improves performance by reducing stress. In this experiment, we studied the effects of an acute psychosocial stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test, on attentional performance and salivary cortisol release in humans. Additionally, we investigated whether an expressive writing task could reduce the detrimental effects of stress, both on performance and physiological response. We found that when individuals were asked to write about a past failure before experiencing a stressor, they exhibited attenuated stress responses. Moreover, those who wrote about a past failure before being exposed to stress also exhibited better behavioral performance. Our results suggest that writing about a previous failure may allow an individual to experience a new stressor as less stressful, reducing its physiological and behavioral effects.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: East India Archive > Biological Science
Depositing User: Unnamed user with email support@eastindiaarchive.com
Date Deposited: 20 Feb 2023 09:45
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2024 09:52
URI: http://ebooks.keeplibrary.com/id/eprint/253

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