Stress and its Impact in Classrooms

Vogel, S., Schwabe, L. Learning and memory under stress: implications for the classroom. npj Science Learn 1, 16011 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/npjscilearn.2016.11

Stressful events are common educational settings for students and teachers. This stress can have a critical impact on learning and memory processes. Beyond their relevance in educational contexts, stressful situations in learning and memory contribute to stress-related mental disorders, such as major depressive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. This paper explains how stress affects learning and memory. 

School children often encounter stressful events inside and outside of their school environment; nearly 70% of primary school children report symptoms of stress such as worries, anxiety or sadness. Stress may lead to stronger memories of negative events happening in the classroom, such as failed exams, embarrassing experiences or interpersonal conflicts (e.g., bullying) and these strong negative memories may induce long-lasting frustration and a negative attitude towards school and the individual’s abilities.                 

If a situation is considered stressful, a sequence of physiological and endocrine (hormonal) changes begins in order to re-establish homoeostasis ( equilibrium and stability in biological systems; for survival ) and to promote long-term well-being. Among others, two major stress systems help regulate learning and memory processes - the rapid autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the slower hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis. Within seconds of receiving a stressful stimulus, the ANS is activated, releasing hormones such as noradrenaline from the brain. This prepares the body for ‘fight-or-flight’ responses and rapidly affects neural functioning in several brain regions critical for learning and memory (such as the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex) by increasing arousal attention and alertness. This hormone also helps maintain blood pressure. Thus, the individual's reaction to stress regulates arousal, attention, cognitive function, and stress reactions. The somewhat slower, second system is activated in response to stress, the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis, resulting in the release of the hormone cortisol from the adrenal cortex. Cortisol reaches peak concentrations 20–30 min after stress onset and readily enters the brain to affect reasoning and behaviour by increasing the amount of glucose, in the bloodstream, enhancing the brain's use of glucose and increasing the availability of substances in the body that repair tissues.

Stressful situations in classrooms such as exams or embarrassing situations lead to the release of the above-mentioned hormones. However, the time at which stress is experienced has a profound effect on the ability of the student to comprehend and retrieve new information. Experiencing stress shortly before or after presenting new information generally enhances subsequent memory performance. Stress before memory retrieval impairs the recall of information learned previously which may directly affect performance in exams. Together, these findings highlight that stress may critically shape our memories, which is of utmost importance in all educational contexts.   Emotions or light to moderate forms of stress may increase memory formation, which may have positive effects on memories for study material. Moderate or high levels of stress before exams will most likely hinder memory retrieval and lead to an underestimation of the student’s knowledge, resulting in bad grades. Finally, by altering the balance between memory systems, stress may lead to strong, rigid memories and the retrieval of habits rather than letting the individual think of creative and complex solutions to new problems, which may again lead to an underestimation of the students’ abilities.

Summarized by Saisha Sikka