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Stressed out and not thinking straight

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American



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In times of acute stress, we really DON'T think straight. In fact, we suffer deficits in working memory. And we do this in spite of an increase in dopamine release from the neuron terminals there, which we usually think of as being associated with important stimuli (like food or drugs) in the prefrontal cortex. So what causes this increase, and what does it mean? And how can we use this knowledge to reverse cognitive deficits associated with stress? Head over to Neurotic Physiology to find out!

Scicurious has a PhD in Physiology from a Southern institution. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from another respected Southern institution. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at a celebrated institution that is very fancy and somewhere else. Her professional interests are in neurophysiology and psychiatric disorders. She recently obtained her PhD and is pursuing her love of science and writing at the same time. She often blogs in the third person. For more information about Scicurious and to view her recent award and activities, please see her CV ( http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/a-scicurious-cv/)

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