ArticleCognition & emotion2014
Does stress enhance or impair memory consolidation?
Article in Cognition & emotion, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The effects of acute stress on episodic memory: A meta-analysis and integrative review.Psychological bulletin · 2017Pooled it
- Anxiety, stress, and affective modulation on object-location memory: A systematic review in virtual environments.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Stress in the spotlight: impacts of stress on learning and memory in a cichlid fish.Animal cognition · 2025Article
- Propofol differentially modulates the consolidation of schema-related and -unrelated memory.iScience · 2025Article
- The effects of therapeutic horticulture on student well-being and academic resilience.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Myths of trauma memory: on the oversimplification of effects of attention narrowing under stress.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- Differential effects of acute exercise on emotional memory in men and women.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Article
- Resilience for Undergraduate Students: Development and Evaluation of a Theory-Driven, Evidence-Based and Learner Centered Digital Resilience Skills Enhancement (RISE) Program.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Post-Encoding Stress Does Not Enhance Memory Consolidation: The Role of Cortisol and Testosterone Reactivity.Brain sciences · 2020Article
- Implicit and explicit systems differently predict possible dangers.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Stress and the medial temporal lobe at rest: Functional connectivity is associated with both memory and cortisol.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2019Article
- The effects of post-encoding stress and glucocorticoids on episodic memory in humans and rodents.Brain and cognition · 2019Review
- Enhancing memory with stress: Progress, challenges, and opportunities.Brain and cognition · 2019Review
- Acute stress throughout the memory cycle: Diverging effects on associative and item memory.Journal of experimental psychology. General · 2019Article
- Animal models of fear relapse.ILAR journal · 2014Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Three experiments examined the hypothesis that stress-induced arousal enhances long-term memory for experiences associated with arousing events. Contrary to expectations, in each experiment exposure to a stressor (arm immersion in ice water) interfered with, rather than enhanced, long-term memory for associated material. Despite varying the stimuli (words, pictures), their emotional value (positive, negative, neutral), the time between learning and stress inductions (0 to 1 minute), and opportunities for post-learning rehearsal, each experiment produced a significant reversal of the hypothesised effect. That is, in each experiment, exposure to a stressor interfered with, rather than enhanced, long-term memory for associated material. We conclude that the relationship between stress and memory consolidation is more bounded than previously believed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.