I enjoy reading the online articles, particularly the monthly 'eyespy' pages. After studying stess and memory in AS psychology, I found an interesting article on stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline). A British neuroscience review has concluded that these hormones help the brain store memories more effectively by a process called epigenetic modification. This is where the hormones alter the function of genes in neurones to enhance learning ability. However extreme stress can be damaging and can lead to persistent, traumatic memories which can contribute to mental illnesses.
Maybe this could explain why nerves before a drama performance or an exam can make you feel more alert. Sometimes when you're in exams you can think of things that you didn't think you knew, this could be due to the stress triggering your active neurones involved with memory? This could link to EWT too, about how a moderate level of fear can heighten the accuracy of people's accounts of an event to a certain level (I remember looking at a correlation between fear and memory).
Maybe this could explain why nerves before a drama performance or an exam can make you feel more alert. Sometimes when you're in exams you can think of things that you didn't think you knew, this could be due to the stress triggering your active neurones involved with memory? This could link to EWT too, about how a moderate level of fear can heighten the accuracy of people's accounts of an event to a certain level (I remember looking at a correlation between fear and memory).
It's nice being able to read articles about subjects I have studied because it adds a real life perspective to the topic. Also I understand how cortisol and adrenaline affect the body in stress pathways (fight or flight responses) and how fear can enhance memory. This has allow me to piece the article together around my prior knowledge to make good sense.
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