Effects Of Epidemic/Exam Threat Stimulus On Working Memory Of Junior High School Students

At present,COVID-19 is still in the global pandemic stage.Studies have shown that Corona Virus Disease 2019(COVID-19)is a major threat stimulus.Previous studies have found that the prevalence of COVID-19 can affect the working memory of adolescents.In addition,studies on post-disaster risk perception suggest that people in severe areas of different disaster locations may have ’ ripple effect ’.At present,whether the effects of epidemic threat stimulus on junior high school students in different epidemic areas are different,and whether epidemic threat stimulation will have different effects on working memory function of junior high school students in different epidemic areas still need further research.In addition to epidemic threat stimulus,common threat stimulus for adolescents mainly include achievement-related activities(examinations,competition,cognitive performance)or tasks that cause anxiety(such as public speaking,improvisation).A large of number of studies have shown that exams,as a common threat stimulus,may affect working memory function of adolescents.Epidemic-related threat is a kind of sudden survival-related threat stimulus,while test threat is closely related to individual daily life and has a high degree of threat.Studies have shown that there are differences in the psychological processing mechanism of survival-related and unrelated threat stimuli.Therefore,this study attempts to explore whether the two types of threat stimuli have different effects on individual working memory.This study took junior high school students in high exposure areas(Wuhan,Hubei Province)and low exposure areas(Guiyang,Guizhou Province)as the research objects,and explored different threat stimuli(epidemic threat stimulus,exam threat stimulus,neutral stimulus)on their working memory Impact.Experiment 1 explored the effect of threat stimuli on working memory capacity.58 subjects from areas with high epidemic exposure and 56 subjects from areas with low epidemic exposure were selected to measure the effect of threat stimuli on working memory capacity of junior high school students by using the reading span task.Experiment 1 adopts the mixed experimental design of 2(group: high exposure area,low exposure area)* 3(material:epidemic threat stimulus,exam threat stimulus,neutral),with the group as between subject factor and the material as within-subject factor.The dependent variable is the reading span task score.The results showed that:(1)the main effect of the threat stimulus material on the reading span task score was significant(2)the main effect of the group was not significant on the reading span task score(3)interaction effects of the group and threat stimulus material on the reading span task score was not significant.Experiment 2 explores the effect of threat stimuli on the ability of working memory update.A total of 58 subjects from areas with high epidemic exposure and 57 subjects from areas with low epidemic exposure were selected.Experiment 2 used the 2-back task to investigate the effect of threatening stimuli on the ability of working memory update of junior high school students.The experiment adopts the mixed experimental design of 2(group: high exposure area,low exposure area)* 3(material: epidemic threat stimulus,exam threat stimulus,neutral),with the group as between subject factor and material as within-subject factor.The dependent variables are the accuracy and reaction time of the 2-back task.The results showed that:(1)the main effect of the threat stimulus material was significant on the accuracy and reaction time of the2-back task(2)the main effect of the group was not significant on the accuracy and reaction time of the 2-back task(3)interaction effects of the group and threat stimulus material on the accuracy and reaction time of the 2-back task was not significant.Experiment 3 explores the effect of threat stimuli on the inhibitory function of working memory.56 subjects from areas with high epidemic exposure and 58 subjects from areas with low epidemic exposure were selected.Experiment 3used the Stroop task to investigate the effect of threatening stimuli on the working memory inhibition function of junior high school students.The experiment adopts the mixed experimental design of 2(group: high exposure area,low exposure area)* 3(material: epidemic threat stimulus,exam threat stimulus,neutral),with the group as between subject factor and material as within-subject factor.The dependent variables are the accuracy and reaction time of the Stroop task.The result found that:(1)the main effect of the threat stimulus material on the accuracy and reaction time of the Stroop task was not significant(2)the main effect of the group on the accuracy and reaction time of the Stroop task was not significant(3)interaction effects of the group and threat stimulus material on the accuracy and reaction time of the the Stroop task was not significant.In summary,this study found that :(1)Compared with neutral stimulus and test threat stimulus,epidemic threat stimulus reduced the working memory capacity of junior high school students;there was no significant difference in working memory capacity tasks between high and low exposure groups(2)Compared with neutral stimulation and test threat stimulation,epidemic threat stimulation damaged the working memory refresh function of junior high school students.There was no significant difference in the task of working memory updating between high and low exposure groups(3)Compared with neutral stimulation,epidemic threat stimulation and test threat stimulation had no significant effect on the inhibitory function of working memory in junior middle school students;there was no significant difference in working memory inhibition task between high and low exposure groups.