How does anxiety impair memory retention?

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If I’m studying for a test and I’m anxious, I’ll remember less of the material. If I’m relaxed, then I retain more information and understand connections between topics more easily. Does the neurological pathway of anxiety negate the pathway that forms memories. I don’t know, but it’s frustrating ☹️.

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Well if you are overthinking something other than what you’re studying I guess it would make sense that you don’t remember it as well.

Anonymous 0 Comments

When you’re anxious, your brain and body are in fight or flight mode. That physical state is meant to give you the ability to survive an immediate threat and memorizing small details isn’t an immediate survival skill.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Practice helps us learn new things because the pathways in the brain get insulated essentially forming tunnels.

Picture water going through a pipe. At first, there are lots of holes in the pipes so some is lost while some makes it all the way through to the end. The more practice, the more holes in the tunnel get filled. Over time, as there are fewer holes, less water is lost along the way.

But the construction crew in your head can only fill so many tunnel holes at a time.

Focusing one one thing means that all the entire crew is focused on the most important tunnels.

Anxiety splits your focus and energy to other non-relevant things. So that means your brain is expending energy filling tunnel holes that are not relevant to what you are working on – like doubting yourself, worrying about the outcome, etc.