Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl
the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects,
then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and
observations.
Today's article covers something I noticed when my anxiety levels started tapering off: that anxiety can be beneficial to remembering things. The study covers a relatively small group (less than 100 people), but the results were marked. People with higher anxiety tended to remember details better, possibly because they had additional emotional contexts assigned to it.
The article here does put in an important cautionary, which is that if anxiety levels get too high, this benefit goes away. Very high anxiety levels just destroy your concentration and keep you distracted by worries and fears. In my personal experience, too high of anxiety made my mind foggy, and thinking was like slogging through molasses. Even now, with my magnesium and my exercise and the other anti-anxiety things in my life, I still sometimes have days, or hours, like that. There are also days where it feels like a swarm of rats is eating me alive, one nibble at a time.
In the past, it was worse. I lived with a lot more anxiety, to the point where it was commonplace and although it tormented me, I hardly gave it much thought. I was anxious all the time, and I was used to being anxious all the time. In school, that showed up as aversive behavior, and it still does sometimes. Instead of studying for tests long in advance, I'd procrastinate by doing projects for the class. To procrastinate on those projects, I'd do the coursework/homework. In the end, my test results probably weren't as good as they could have been, but I got every piece of homework completed, and every project finished.
I was almost never late for doctor's appointments or scheduled meetings because I worried so much about missing them, I'd keep checking my calendar and the clock. I'd leave 10-15 minutes earlier than I really needed to, just so I could be sure I'd be there on time. When I got there early, that was my cue that I could relax, because anything that went wrong after that was someone else's fault. I still adhere to that thought pattern to this day, even if I don't leave quite as early these days.
My anxiety made me more organized. Because I hated not being able to find things, I paid more attention to where I'd put them in the first place, and designated homes for important objects (like car keys, text books, notebooks, and homework). I have never been, and never will be a paragon of perfect organization, but the important things, I kept track of.
Since getting treatment for that anxiety, I've noticed I forget things more often. My memory for details is fuzzier. I'm late more often to appointments. What used to be a near-photographic memory is now much more ordinary. In some ways, this saddens me. But in other ways, it's an improvement. The sharp detail of memory helped me avoid misplacing things, but it was more commonly used to create Boomerang Memories, which torment me to this day, albeit less often than they used to.
Today's article covers something I noticed when my anxiety levels started tapering off: that anxiety can be beneficial to remembering things. The study covers a relatively small group (less than 100 people), but the results were marked. People with higher anxiety tended to remember details better, possibly because they had additional emotional contexts assigned to it.
The article here does put in an important cautionary, which is that if anxiety levels get too high, this benefit goes away. Very high anxiety levels just destroy your concentration and keep you distracted by worries and fears. In my personal experience, too high of anxiety made my mind foggy, and thinking was like slogging through molasses. Even now, with my magnesium and my exercise and the other anti-anxiety things in my life, I still sometimes have days, or hours, like that. There are also days where it feels like a swarm of rats is eating me alive, one nibble at a time.
In the past, it was worse. I lived with a lot more anxiety, to the point where it was commonplace and although it tormented me, I hardly gave it much thought. I was anxious all the time, and I was used to being anxious all the time. In school, that showed up as aversive behavior, and it still does sometimes. Instead of studying for tests long in advance, I'd procrastinate by doing projects for the class. To procrastinate on those projects, I'd do the coursework/homework. In the end, my test results probably weren't as good as they could have been, but I got every piece of homework completed, and every project finished.
I was almost never late for doctor's appointments or scheduled meetings because I worried so much about missing them, I'd keep checking my calendar and the clock. I'd leave 10-15 minutes earlier than I really needed to, just so I could be sure I'd be there on time. When I got there early, that was my cue that I could relax, because anything that went wrong after that was someone else's fault. I still adhere to that thought pattern to this day, even if I don't leave quite as early these days.
My anxiety made me more organized. Because I hated not being able to find things, I paid more attention to where I'd put them in the first place, and designated homes for important objects (like car keys, text books, notebooks, and homework). I have never been, and never will be a paragon of perfect organization, but the important things, I kept track of.
Since getting treatment for that anxiety, I've noticed I forget things more often. My memory for details is fuzzier. I'm late more often to appointments. What used to be a near-photographic memory is now much more ordinary. In some ways, this saddens me. But in other ways, it's an improvement. The sharp detail of memory helped me avoid misplacing things, but it was more commonly used to create Boomerang Memories, which torment me to this day, albeit less often than they used to.
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