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Chronic stress clouds thinking, memory

Published on 11 March, 2012
Chronic stress clouds thinking, memory
Washington, March 11 (IANS) Being subject to chronic stress not only clouds your thinking but also impairs memory, new research says.

It uncovered a neural (brain cell) mechanism that directly links stress with impaired memory and clouded thinking.

Stress hormones are known to influence the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a brain region that controls high level "executive" functions such as working memory and decision making, reports the journal Neuron.

"Previous work has shown that chronic stress impairs PFC-mediated behaviours, like mental flexibility and attention, explains study author Zhen Yan, State University of New York, according to a State University statement.

Yan and colleagues examined whether repeated stress had a negative influence on glutamate receptors in juvenile rats. Glutamate signalling plays a critical role in PFC function.

They found that in response to repeated stress, there was a significant loss of glutamate receptors, which resulted in a deficit of PFC-mediated cognitive processes, such as working memory and decision making.
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