# Stress and Cognition **Domain:** Cognitive Science / Behavioral Regulation **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition Stress and cognition concerns the way physiological arousal changes attention, working memory, judgment, and the range of actions a person can perceive. ## Mechanism Acute stress can mobilize rapid response, while sustained or excessive alarm narrows attention and crowds reflective reasoning. Regulation restores access to options that panic makes invisible. ## Significance Composure is therefore cognitive infrastructure: it protects the intelligence required to solve the condition producing the stress. ## Relationships - [[wiki/Information-Processing Psychology|Information-Processing Psychology]] - [[wiki/Behavioral State Change|Behavioral State Change]] - [[wiki/Cognitive Agency|Cognitive Agency]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “Panic disables the very intelligence it needs. Human beings are formidable problem solvers, and a body falling down a staircase will perform feats of balance it could never explain, but sustained fear narrows attention and crowds out judgment. In a crisis, the most valuable asset is a cool head.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *All Is Well Within When Pain Becomes a Seed of Change - Livestream (Oct 2015)* [[reminders/Composure/Panic Disables the Intelligence It Needs by Bryant McGill|Panic Disables the Intelligence It Needs by Bryant McGill]] > “Peace can feel strange at first. A nervous system used to alarm may treat calm as suspicious and stir up worry to restore the familiar state. Repeated experiences of safe stillness gradually widen the definition of normal.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Releasing Anxiety by Reexamining the Stories We Carry - Livestream (Oct 2016)* [[reminders/Resilience/Safe Stillness Makes Peace Feel Normal by Bryant McGill|Safe Stillness Makes Peace Feel Normal by Bryant McGill]] > “Primatologists observe that stress spreads through primate groups much as it does among people. Robert Sapolsky's studies of baboons showed how the social environment shapes stress hormones and health. Choosing uplifting company is a biological strategy as well as an emotional one.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Spiritual Entrepreneurship and the Inner Wealth Behind Every Opportunity - Livestream (Aug 2015)* [[reminders/Human Animality/Uplifting Company Is a Biological Strategy by Bryant McGill|Uplifting Company Is a Biological Strategy by Bryant McGill]]