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Being under stress makes us worse at detecting new dangers, according to a new study. Stress can make our thinking and responses less flexible, so we are slower to learn new dangers.
Researchers taught their subjects cues for danger, then put half of that group under stress. The cues for danger and for safety were then switched, and the study found that those exposed to stress adapted to the new cues more slowly than their peers.
Fight or flight responses to stressors are meant to help us take action when we’re in danger. When we are already under stress, we are slower to learn that something that once was safe is now a danger.
In the first round of the test, none of the subjects were under stress, and they were all shown a series of images. Half of those images predicted a small electrical shock, while half did not.
After half of the subjects had been subjected to stress, everyone watched the images again, but this time the dangerous and safe cues were switched.
The subjects that had been put under stress – by holding one arm in a tub of ice water before doing the danger activity again – were even slower to learn that something that had been safe was now dangerous than they were to learn the reverse. It took the stressed subjects an average of six extra tries to catch up to the physiological responses of their unstressed peers.
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