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Sunday, January 15, 2017

Stress and perceptual learning

Our Senses Can’t Learn Under Stress

Summary: Stress may impede perceptual learning and performance, a new study reports.
Source: RUB.
Stress is part of our everyday lives – while some thrive on it, it makes others sick. But what does stress do to our senses?
When we train them, we can sharpen our senses thereby improve our perceptual performance. The stress hormone cortisol completely blocks this important ability. In the current issue of “Psychoneuroendocrinology” neuroscientists of the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) report on this finding.
“Previous research has already shown that stress can prevent the retrieval of memories. But now we have discovered that it also has a major effect on our perception and perceptual learning,” explains Dr Hubert Dinse, one of the authors of the study.
Image shows a hand and the chemical structure of cortisol.To make training comparable across all participants, the researchers employed the well-established approach of passive finger stimulation. Previous studies and several therapy approaches have shown that this method leads to an improved tactile acuity. NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only./.../

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