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Cited by 306Stress Responses and CortisolNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesCognitive Abilities and Testing

Intraindividual coupling of daily stress and cognition.

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Sliwinski, Martin J., Smyth, Joshua M., Hofer, Scott M., Stawski, Robert S.·2006·Psychology and Aging
DOI 10.1037/0882-7974.21.3.545PMC PMC2879634
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Abstract

Most psychological theories predict associations among processes that transpire within individuals. However, these theories are often tested by examining relationships at the between-persons (BP) rather than the within-persons (WP) level. The authors examined the WP and BP relationships between daily stress and daily variability in cognitive performance. Daily stress and cognitive performance were assessed on 6 occasions in 108 older adults and 68 young adults. WP variability in stress predicted WP variability in response times (RTs) on a 2-back working memory task in both younger and older adults. That is, RTs were slower on high-stress days compared with low-stress days. There was evidence of an amplified WP stress effect in the older adults on a serial attention task. There was no evidence of stress effects on simple versions of these tasks that placed minimal demands on working memory. These results are consistent with theories that postulate that stress-related cognitive interference competes for attentional resources.

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  • Within-person correlations of stress and working memory may be larger than traditional between-person correlations.

    “Interestingly, these within-person correlations of stress and working memory may be larger than more traditional between-person correlations-that is, those that assess whether an individual with chronic high stress, on average, has lower working-memory performance than a person with chronic low stress levels (Sliwinski et al., 2006).”

    From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Sliwinski et al., 2006

    The Results report a significant within-person stress effect on 2-back working-memory performance but no reliable between-person effect, supporting the general contrast. The Discussion explains that the between-person measure was daily stress, not chronic stress; the paper does not establish that the within-person correlations were larger in magnitude than correlations based on chronic stress. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • When stress rises within a person, working-memory performance falls; when stress falls, working-memory performance improves.

    “When an individual's stress increases, his or her working-memory performance decreases; conversely, when an individual's stress level is lowered, working-memory performance improves.”

    From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Sliwinski et al., 2006

  • Research on stress and working memory finds reliable within-person correlations between variability in stress and variability in working-memory performance.

    “Research on the relationship of stress to working-memory performance, for instance, finds reliable correlations of within-person variability of stress and working memory-that is, how ups and downs in stress within a person relate to ups and downs in working-memory performance (e.g., Sliwinski, Smyth, Hofer, & Stawski, 2006).”

    From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Sliwinski et al., 2006

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Sliwinski, M. J., Smyth, J. M., Hofer, S. M., & Stawski, R. S.
Affiliations
  • Syracuse University (US)
  • Pennsylvania State University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Psychology and Aging
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2006-09
Volume
21
Issue
3
Pages
545-557
ISSN
  • 0882-7974 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1498
DOI
10.1037/0882-7974.21.3.545
PMC
PMC2879634
OpenAlex
W2107029457
Cited by
306
References
9
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 17
FWCI
3.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychology and Aging (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Aging (AG-12448)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
Keywords
daily stress, within-person variability, cognitive performance, working memory, reaction time (psychology), older adults, young adults, attentional resources, aging
MeSH terms
Activities of Daily Living, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Attention, Emotions, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Neuropsychological Tests, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Psychometrics, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Serial Learning, Sick Role, Statistics as Topic, Stress, Psychological

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