Can we understand how developmental stress enhances performance under future threat with the Yerkes-Dodson law?

Chaby, Lauren E.; Sheriff, Michael J.; Hirrlinger, Amy M.; Braithwaite, Valerie

doi:10.1080/19420889.2015.1029689

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, it is incorrect that stress is always negative; in reality stress is an adaptive response when it modulates arousal. The relationship between arousal and performance is an inverted U-shaped as described by the Yerkes-Dodson function (Chaby et al, 2015), and there is a direct relationship between arousal and stress (Winsky-Sommerer et al, 2005). Too little as well as too much are both counterproductive to performance, but in the mid-range, stress/arousal facilitates performance.…”

Section: Assessing Navigation In Rodentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cincinnati water maze: A review of the development, methods, and evidence as a test of egocentric learning and memory

Vorhees¹,

Williams²

2016

Neurotoxicology and Teratology

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Advantageous maneuvering through the environment to find food and avoid or escape danger is central to survival of most animal species. The ability to do so depends on learning and remembering different locations, especially home-base. This capacity is encoded in the brain by two systems: one using cues outside the organism (distal cues), allocentric navigation, and one using self-movement, internal cues (proximal cues), for egocentric navigation. Whereas allocentric navigation involves the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and surrounding structures, egocentric navigation involves the dorsal striatum and connected structures; in humans this system encodes routes and integrated paths and when over-learned, becomes procedural memory. Allocentric assessment methods have been extensively reviewed elsewhere. The purpose of this paper is to review one specific method for assessing egocentric, route-based navigation in rats: the Cincinnati Water Maze (CWM). The test is an asymmetric multiple-T maze arranged in such a way that rats must learn to find path openings along walls rather at ends in order to reach the goal. Failing to do this leads to cul-de-sacs and repeated errors. The task may be learned in the light or dark, but in the dark, wherein distal cues are eliminated, provides the best assessment of egocentric navigation. When used in conjunction with tests of other types of learning, such as allocentric navigation, the CWM provides a balanced approach to assessing the two major forms of navigational learning and memory found in mammals.

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Section: Assessing Navigation In Rodentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cincinnati water maze: A review of the development, methods, and evidence as a test of egocentric learning and memory

Vorhees¹,

Williams²

2016

Neurotoxicology and Teratology

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“…Exposure to stress in early development can shape a phenotype such that it performs differently depending upon the environmental context (Sheriff & Love 2013;Chaby et al 2015b). In the current study, we tested the effects of stress in adolescence on time allocation, between monitoring for threats and manipulating novel objects to obtain food (an indicator of problem-solving ability; Keagy et al 2009), in adulthood under low-and high-threat conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unstressed rats were reared in standard laboratory conditions without exposure to stress while adolescent‐stressed rats were exposed to three types of stressors (physical, social and predation) from 30 to 70 days of age, using procedures described in Table and Chaby et al. , ,b. This chronic stress paradigm has been shown to cause long‐term behavioural and cognitive changes (Chaby et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress During Adolescence Shapes Performance in Adulthood: Context‐Dependent Effects on Foraging and Vigilance

et al. 2016

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Exposure to chronic stress during adolescence can shape behaviour, cognition and physiology in adulthood, but the consequences of these longterm changes remain unclear. Prior studies reporting altered performance following exposure to stress in adolescence have generally interpreted lasting changes as impairments. However, we have recently shown that exposure to chronic unpredictable stress during adolescence (from postnatal days 30-70) can enhance performance in a context-dependent manner during a foraging task. Increases in foraging performance, (previously measured by the number of rewards obtained), are often associated with trade-offs in other behaviours, such as vigilance. Here, we examined the effect of stress exposure in adolescence on adult foraging in male Sprague Dawley rats to determine (1) whether the increase in foraging performance exhibited by animals exposed to stress in adolescence is balanced by a decrease in vigilance, and (2) whether stress in adolescence alters time allocation between foraging and vigilance behaviours in low-and high-threat conditions. We found no evidence of a trade-off between foraging and vigilance; under low-threat conditions, rats exposed to stress in adolescence spent more time being vigilant compared with unstressed rats, suggesting that exposure to stress in adolescence enhances anticipation of threat in adulthood. Under high-threat conditions, adolescentstressed and unstressed rats did not differ in foraging and vigilance behaviours. Given that we have previously found that rats exposed to stress in adolescence nearly double food intake under high-threat, and we now show that high-performing rats do not spend more time foraging, it appears that stress exposure in adolescence may enhance foraging efficiency (food consumed/time) under high-threat conditions rather than time allocation between foraging and competing behaviours. We also examined the relationship, at the level of the individual, between foraging performance and foraging and vigilance behaviours. We found that changes in individual foraging performance between low-and high-threat conditions were independent of behavioural changes (i.e. both highly and poorly performing rats were equally active and contacted a similar number of patches). This suggests that the ability to obtain many rewards under high-threat conditions may be related to efficiency, rather than the frequency of foraging and effort-related behaviours.

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“…The Yerkes‐Dodson law (yet another myth in education) 35‐38 suggests a positive role for stress in performance. This mythical law may lead to the assumption that stress is beneficial for learning, but also that stress acts independently of other factors like arousal.…”

Section: Factors That Contribute To the Myth Of Surprise‐induced Learmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aha! Taking on the myth that simulation‐derived surprise enhances learning

Monteiro

Sibbald

2020

Medical Education

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Objectives: This paper aims to discuss the recurring education-related issue of the highfidelity simulation myth. In the current instantiation, educators erroneously believe that trainees benefit from authentic uncertainty and surprise in simulation-based training. Methods:We explore the origins of this myth within the experiential learning and social constructivism theories and propose an evidence-based solution of transparent and guided instruction in simulation. Results:Constructivist theories highlight meaning making as the benefit of inquiry and discovery learning strategies. Inappropriate translation of this epistemology into an element of curriculum design creates unfortunate unintended consequences. Conclusions:We propose that the translation of constructivist theories of learning within simulation-based education has resulted in a pervasive myth, which decrees that scenarios must introduce realistic tension or surprises to encourage exploration and insightful problem solving. We argue that this myth is masquerading as experiential learning. In this narrative review, we interpret our experiences and observations of simulation-based education through our expertise in education science and curriculum design. We offer anecdotal evidence along with a review of selected literature to establish the presence of this previously undetected myth.How to cite this article: Monteiro S, Sibbald M. Aha! Taking on the myth that simulation-derived surprise enhances learning.

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Can we understand how developmental stress enhances performance under future threat with the Yerkes-Dodson law?

Cited by 29 publications

References 24 publications

Cincinnati water maze: A review of the development, methods, and evidence as a test of egocentric learning and memory

Cincinnati water maze: A review of the development, methods, and evidence as a test of egocentric learning and memory

Stress During Adolescence Shapes Performance in Adulthood: Context‐Dependent Effects on Foraging and Vigilance

Aha! Taking on the myth that simulation‐derived surprise enhances learning

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