2020 Volume 68 Issue 2 Pages 134-146
The present study examined effects of high-pressure conditions on working memory and of a short expressive writing intervention on negative effects of high-pressure conditions. In Study 1, university students performed working memory tasks under high-pressure conditions. The results suggested that working memory task performance decreased under those high-pressure conditions. In Study 2, the participants did short expressive writing immediately before performing a working memory task under high-pressure conditions. In addition, as opposed to the short expressive writing intervention that dealt with negative emotions, Study 2 included a short benefit-writing intervention that involved positive emotions. Effects of the 2 interventions were then compared. The results suggested that performing the short expressive writing may have alleviated negative effects of the high pressure, as well as partially alleviating a decline in working memory task performance. In particular, the short benefit-writing appeared to stabilize the intervention effect in comparison to the short expressive writing. Because Study 2 may be more applicable to children, future research should examine effects of these interventions on performance in elementary and secondary education settings.
