The effects of acute stress on core executive functions: A meta-analysis and comparison with cortisol
Shields GS, Sazma MA, Yonelinas AP
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2016
What the research tells us
Acute stress was associated with impaired working memory and cognitive flexibility, with more differentiated effects on inhibition. A single description of “cognitive recovery” obscures different tasks and processes.
Scope & interpretation
Task classification, stress timing and study design affect interpretation. Later commentary and the authors’ response address heterogeneous outcomes and analytic choices. These are not estimates of time to whole-person recovery.
Study at a glance
- POPULATION & SAMPLE
- Human acute-stress experiments assessing core executive functions.
- EXPOSURE / INTERVENTION / SUBJECT
- Acute stress, compared with relevant controls; contrasted with cortisol-administration evidence.
- OUTCOMES
- Working memory, cognitive flexibility and forms of inhibition.
- TIME FRAME
- Task- and timing-specific acute comparisons; review published in 2016.
Cited on this site
Editorial & review record
Record for v1.0 · Updated
Editorial responsibility: TAP Editorial Team
Editorial note
Under the editorial responsibility of the TAP Editorial Team, this publication used AI assistance for content organization and editing.
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How responsibilities and review are recorded ↗Scope of this reading note
Original PubMed abstract and bibliographic record, plus the 2018 authors’ response abstract. Commentary links are supplied for the methodological debate; the pooled analysis was not recomputed.
- Funding & competing interests
- Funding and competing-interest details have not been verified against the full text. Consult the original publication’s declarations.
Project support
Founded and supported by Resilio.
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