Stress and Cognition The Neuroscience Behind Stress, Memory & Thinking

1. Stress and Cognition The Neuroscience Behind Stress, Memory & Thinking Debra S. Austin, PhD, JD Sixty minutes of thinking of any kind is bound to lead to confusion and unhappiness. ~ James Thurber~

2. Areas of the brain involved in learning • Neuroscience of memory formation • Difference between emotions and feelings • Impact of negative emotions on learning • Suggestions to maximize cognitive function

3. Learning about the Brain • First Illustrated Brain Manual • CerebriAnatome 1664 • Modern brain research • Animal Studies • Brain Scans • Brain Structure Scanning: X-Ray, CT, MRI • Brain Activity Scanning: EEG, fMRI, MEG, PET, DTI

4. Brain Facts • 3 lbs • Size of a coconut • Walnut shaped • Consistency of Jell-O or chilled butter • Evolved from the top of the spine up • Requires • 25% of calories consumed • 20% of oxygen breathed • 25% of body’s total blood flow

5. Primitive Brain • Brain Stem, Hindbrain, or Reptilian Brain • Governs basic motor functions • Breathing, digestion, heartbeat, sleeping, balance • Key Parts: brain stem, midbrain, cerebellum • Engaged when struggling for survival

6. Emotional Brain • Inner Brain or Limbic System • Manages circadian rhythm, hunger, sex hormones, addiction, and emotions • Key Parts (in pairs, one in each hemisphere): amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, thalamus, nucleus accumbens, and ventral tegmental • Engaged when experiencing an emotional response or creating new memories

7. Thinking Brain • Cerebral Cortex • Key Parts • Two hemispheres linked by the corpus callosum • Four major lobes • Frontal lobe (language, reasoning, movement) • Occipital lobe (vision) • Temporal lobe (hearing) • Parietal Lobe(taste, temperature, touch) • Outer layer is grey matter - densely-packed neurons • Inner layer is white matter • Engaged when using reasoning and logic to conduct higher-order thinking

8. Brain Cells • Neurons • Communication nerve cells • Shaped like trees • Information travels from the branches (dendrites) down the trunk (axon) and across a tiny gap (synapse)to the next group of dendrites • Chemicals (neurotransmitters) carry the information over the synaptic gap • Electrical-Chemical-Electrical

9. Over 100 Neurotransmitters • Serotonin (mood, anxiety, sleep) • Endorphins (reduce pain, increase pleasure) • Oxytocin (bonding) • Acetylcholine (attentiveness, memory) • Glutamate (learning, memory) • Dopamine (motivation, pleasure, meaning)

10. Brainy Vocabulary • Triune Brain Structure • primitive, emotional & thinking brains • Neuron • tree-shaped brain cell & unit of communication • Neurogenesis • the birth of new brain cells • In the Hippocampus & Olefactory Bulbs • Neuroplasticity • changes in your brain • Connectome • unique system map of neuron data pathways

11. Your Connectome • You are your synapses • Your brain is a work in progress • Neurons that fire together wire together

12. Nondeclarative Memories • Cannot be experienced in conscious awareness • Procedural Memories • Stored in cerebellum (primitive brain) • Skiing, dancing, driving • Fear Memories • Stored in amygdala (emotional brain) • Flashbacks and phobias

13. Declarative Memories • Require conscious thought to be recalled • Stored in both emotional and thinking brain • Episodic Memories - Autobiographical personal experiences • Semantic Memories - Learned Knowledge: facts, concepts & words

14. Parts of Brain Involved in Learning • Thinking Brain • Frontal Lobe • language, reasoning, movement • Occipital Lobe • vision • Temporal Lobe • hearing • Parietal Lobe • taste, temperature, touch • Emotional Brain • Thalamus • Amygdala • Hippocampus

15. Laying Down a Memory • Consolidation: a Memory Trace is converted to Long-Term Memory and becomes stable in the brain • Encoding: processing sensory information • Thinking Brain • Information enters via the senses • Emotional Brain • Thalamus focuses attention, screens information, and sends it to the Hippocampus • Amygdala checks information for emotional content

16. Thinking & Emotional Brain Consolidation Loop • Consolidation During Sleep • Information travels a neural loop from Thinking Brain (sensory lobe of origin) to Emotional Brain (Hippocampus) & repeats • Takes 2-10 years • Once memory is fully consolidated, the Hippocampus lets go of its relationship with the Cortex • Consolidated memories are distributed throughout the Cortex

17. Emotion • An unconscious and automatic response to an emotional stimulus that results in physical changes • increased heart rate & blood pressure • Sweaty palms • Blushing • Six Primary Emotions

18. Feelings • Emotions are experienced as feelings • Feelings are the conscious perceptions of emotional responses

19. Stress • Engineering • Amount of resistance a material offers to being reshaped • In Humans • Physiological response to stressor that is measurable by another party • Stressor must be perceived as negative • Stressed person must feel she has no control over the stressor • Stress involves some combination of 4 of the 6 primary emotions: fear, anger, sadness and/or disgust

20. Types of Stress • Acute Stress • Short-lived • Triggers fight or flight response • Can be helpful by assisting focus on novel intellectual challenge or marshaling resources for a significant physical challenge • Chronic Stress • Long-lasting • Occurs during situations like a troubled intimate relationship, financial struggles after a job loss, or treatment for a life-threatening illness

21. Emotional Stimulus • Endocrine System • Secretion & regulation of hormones in bloodstream • Autonomic System • Mediates physiological changes in body • Skeletal Motor System • Controls behaviors such as freeze, fight, flight, and facial expressions

22. Endocrine System • Main Stress Hormones: Adrenalin & Glucocorticoids • Major Glucocorticoid is Cortisol • Glucocorticoids tell the Autonomic System to • Elevate heart rate & blood pressure • Mobilize energy • Slow digestion • Suppress immune system • Evolutionary Purpose – quick response to ensure survival

23. Elevated Glucocorticoids • Physical • Impaired Immune Response • Increased Appetite & Food Cravings • Increased Body Fat • Increased PMS & Menopause Symptoms • Decreased Muscle Mass, Bone Density & Libido • Emotional • Increased Mood Swings, Irritability & Anger • Increased Anxiety & Depression

24. Memory Consolidation

25. Your Brain on Glucocorticoids • Suppression of Neurogenesis (birth of new brain cells) in Hippocampus • Damage to Hippocampus can create cycle where greater amounts of Glucocorticoids are released, producing additional Hippocampal atrophy • Hippocampal Neurodegeneration & Cell Death

26. Impact of Stress on Cognition • Deterioration in memory, concentration, problem-solving, math performance, language processing, curiosity, creativity, and motivation • Hippocampi shrink in size • Depression • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • Repeated exposure to jet lag

27. Reverse Hippocampal DamageIncrease Neurogenesis • Exercise • Healthful Sleep • Antidepressants

28. Exercise • Enhances blood and oxygen flow • Stimulates production of Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) • 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 2 to 3 times per week + strength training for maximum cognitive benefit

29. Increased Blood Flow • Improves blood flow deeper into body tissues • Enhances distribution of food and elimination of waste • Increases blood volume in Hippocampus • Maintains health and functioning of Hippocampus

30. BDNF • Protein that helps • Create new neurons • Protect existing neurons • Encourage synapses formation • BDNF production enhanced by • Exercise • Calorie Reduction • Intellectual Stimulation • Curcumin (active ingredient in spice Turmeric) • Omega-3 Fat DHA

31. Sleep • 90 Minutes to 2 Hours to Stage 5 REM Sleep • Hippocampus & Amygdala very active during REM • Communication between neurons at rate equal to or higher than when awake • Memory consolidation genes activated during REM, which helps formation of new neural connections

32. Sleep Research • Subjects awakened during REM lost ability to learn new information • Loss of 1 night of sleep = 30% cognitive decline • Loss of 2 nights of sleep = 60% cognitive decline • Less than 6 hours of sleep for 5 nights in a row = 60% cognitive decline • Sleep Deprivation • Diminishes attention, working memory, executive function, quantitative skills, logical reasoning ability, mood, and fine & gross motor control • Accelerates Aging Process • Impairs ability to use fuel/food creating risk of diabetes and obesity

33. Circadian Rhythm • Arousal System • Neurons, hormones & chemicals keep body awake • Sleep Drive • Neurons, hormones & chemicals put body to sleep • Larks (Early Chronotypes) • 10% of population • Productive early in day & want to sleep about 9pm • Owls (Late Chronotypes) • 20% of population • Productive late in day & may want to retire at 3am • Hummingbirds • 70% in middle of the spectrum

34. Siesta Time • Arousal System & Sleep Drive flat-line in the afternoon • Causes a desire to nap • Naps improve cognition • 26-minute nap improved NASA pilot performance by 34% • 45-minute nap improved cognition for at least 6 hours

35. Antidepressants • Increase the rate of neurogenesis • Includes SSRIs (selective serotonin uptake inhibitors)

36. Maximize Cognitive Function • Commit to and perform regular exercise • Make regular and adequate sleep a priority • If treated with antidepressants, continue treatment

37. Article & More Brainy Vocabulary • SSRN • Debra Austin • Killing Them Softly: Neuroscience Reveals How Brain Cells Die From Law School Stress • Learn about the hidden law school curriculum and what the Carnegie Report has to say about it