The Effects of Perceived Daily Stress on Spatial Orientation Skills

Abstract

Daily perceptions of stress over time are thought to negatively impact structures in the brain that are essential to the ability of individuals to form cognitive maps. Cognitive map formation is the ability to create mental representations of the spatial layout of the external world and is necessary for spatial orientation. The objective of this study is to investigate how perceived daily experiences of stress are related to the ability of healthy young adults to form cognitive maps and their self-reported sense of direction. We recruited 145 healthy young adults between 18-25 years of age. We evaluated participants twice throughout the school semester on their perceived levels of stress, sense-of direction, and performance on cognitive map formation, spatial perspective taking ability, and mental spatial manipulation tasks. We performed analyses using a growth curve model with a within-subjects design. We included affect, adverse childhood experiences, sleep quality, and sex as moderators for each analysis. Results found no association between perceived stress and task performance or self-reported sense of direction. Outcomes were associated with sex and negative affect, where negative affect and females are associated with worse performance and worse perceptions of sense-of-direction. Perceptions of sense-of-direction associated with positive affect, where increased positive affect was associated with increased perceptions of sense-of-direction. Perceptions of sense-of-direction are also associated with adverse childhood experiences, where higher ratings on adverse childhood experiences were associated with decreased perceptions in sense-of-direction. This project provides insight into the effect that daily nonclinical stress has on the ability to form cognitive maps in healthy young adults. Further, this study helps to describe contributing factors leading to the natural variability observed in these cognitive processes between otherwise healthy individuals.