Sustained stress erodes memory, and the immune system plays a key role in the cognitive impairment, according to a new study from researchers at The Ohio State University.
[...] "This is chronic stress. It's not just the stress of giving a talk or meeting someone new," said lead researcher Jonathan Godbout, associate professor of neuroscience at Ohio State.
This is the first study of its kind to establish the relationship between short-term memory and prolonged stress. In the case of the mice, that meant repeat visits from a larger, nasty intruder mouse.
Mice that were repeatedly exposed to the aggressive intruder had a hard time recalling where the escape hole was in a maze they'd mastered prior to the stressful period.
-- submitted from IRC
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 10 2017, @09:54PM
I'll be the first to admit that we'd be fucked in terms of scientific advancement without the humble house mouse serving as our proxy for research.
But at the same time, every time a see a psychological study focused on mouse-model behavior make the general news, I have this cringing reaction where a thousand incorrect biases are confirmed about human nature without a second thought by readers. And dozens of new incorrect theories of mind start bubbling up.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:11PM
Mice or not, this pretty much sums up psychology as a field of study (and several other fields too).
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:17PM
Psychiatry kicks it up a notch and just uses any observed behavior as evidence to support a diagnosis that requires medication with whatever drug big pharma is pushing this month.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:30PM
I see, you never get to step 6, because at step 4 you always go back to step 1. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:34PM
And here we have the post-modernist "modernist". By assuming nefarious intent by an entire field of study that applies to scientific method, they can safely distance themselves from any sort of structured, objective evidence.
When you have an objection to a methodology used, object to that methodology, and point out the problems. When you pretend an entire field is composed of a conspiracy to mislead, you become crazy and the misled party by your own will.
Worse still, you're allowing yourself to subjectively and passively declare things that suit your biases valid, without necessarily having a solid criteria that would also cause you to face the things you might be wrong about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 11 2017, @06:56PM
By assuming nefarious intent
I didn't see that. Oftentimes they do pull explanations out of nowhere, but that doesn't mean their intent is nefarious. I wish the social sciences were more objective and structured, but the studies often simply aren't.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday January 11 2017, @07:12PM
But they also very often are. So again, if you have a problem with methodology, say so.
This thread stated with me doing exactly that(really more how the perfectly reasonable methodology got popularized in the media). If you read actual papers, not abstracts, not "science news", you'll find that overwhelmingly sociologists, psychologists, and other "soft" scientists do a very good job of identifying confounding variables, trying to control for them, and providing evidence. Many times, you can spot a shitty paper 10 words into the methodology section.
And good journals(e.g. APA's health psychology) junk those before they see the light of day.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:07PM
I want to forget the past 16 years of American history but the trouble is the Department of Homeland Security still exists. When might I expect POETUS Trump to eliminate everything Bushbama did. Also fuck all of you to flaming hell for voting for 16 years of Bushbama. You'll all shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:10PM
In an alternate universe Al Gore has evolved to the level beyond human.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:12PM
So ... at the level beyond human, do we evolve past the need for shitting?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:18PM
Since you've gone to this alternate universe, how did the Gore admin react to 9-11? My guess is nearly the same troop commitment but a completely different tone and mission -- using the military as a police force to catch nasty bad guys. No declaring of "war on terror" -- war is between countries.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:30PM
In the alternate universe, 9/11 never happened because George W Bush and Osama bin Laden are the same man. Without presidential power to pull off a false flag operation or start a war against his alter ego, his secret identity was discovered and he became a laughingstock. "Guess Who Batman" was still released with the same lyrics, but it was even funnier when everyone knew the truth.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:16PM
You shouldn't have a hard time forgetting, given that by the time you hit Reply you forgot what the article was about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:20PM
The chronic stress associated with being labelled a terrorist has not yet eroded the memory of my undying hatred. FUCK AMERICA!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:44PM
OK lining up the giant dildo to penistrate the statute of liberty.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:18PM
When the nasty intruder mouse has a hole in its otherwise quite busy agenda, I promise I'll send it to stress you. Meanwhile, try to find a pointy haired boss as a substitute
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:10PM
Everyone should get raped while studying for exams. The post-traumatic stress will ensure vivid memory recall or the material.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:26PM
Posted in Mind & Brain on May 20, 2016
I was going to submit this story last May when it came out ... but I forgot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:35PM
Too much stress worrying about the election, had to make sure Hillary won.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:40PM
Arthur T Knackerbracket is a dumbbot.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Wednesday January 11 2017, @10:49AM
I know man, the stress of first post, its just too much sometimes.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:39PM
Ok, my short term memory is shot. Is it due to the effects of ECT or the tremendous amount of high level stress I've been subjected to over the past 2+ years?
I can say this: My short term memory was shot prior to the long term stress. I can also say this, it's gotten worse. So, perhaps, a number of things play into this, in humans. I'm not a mouse.
My statements provide no proof of anything. But, it could make one wonder if perhaps we can't draw such close relationships between mice and men.
(Score: 1) by NewNic on Tuesday January 10 2017, @11:33PM
Or perhaps you are just getting older?
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 11 2017, @01:40AM
ECT definitely plays hell with memory.
Mice lack lots of higher brain function areas found in homo sapiens and apes/chimpanzees - but, basic memory is supposed to be similar. Last time I tried to ask a mouse about it I had a hard time confirming or denying anything.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday January 11 2017, @01:51AM
About 12 years ago, my son who is autistic went through a bout of little sleep for around 3 months.
He would go to bed and get about 3-4 hours sleep every night. My wife and I got to the point where we didn't have a life and were stressed and sleep deprived 'to the max' (because he was a possible runner: he had no concept of personal safety, and could have left the house in the night and wandered). We'd take turns watching him while the other tried to sleep. He is also very loud and noisy, so sleeping is difficult while he is awake.
I used to be great at trivia games. Since that bout, my short and long term memory is poor ( but did recover a bit after a while of him settling down).
So that stress: yes, it fecked with MY memory.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @10:49PM
Long term str... WTF you talking about?!
Like I was saying ... who took my onion belt?!