As finals week approaches, your mind isn’t just stressed. In reality, it’s being forced into overdrive by increased cortisol levels. Since finals usually weigh more than 35% of our final grades, your brain is technically pulling all-nighters every single day, even before exam week comes around!
Finals, fortunately and unfortunately, depending on how you view it, are the deciding factor between getting a hard-won “A” in general chemistry or a GPA dip. It isn’t simply just about studying to prove that you have an in-depth understanding of the content, but it becomes a high-stress period in which our worth seems inextricably tied to a grade for simply one exam on Canvas.
the science behind your brain’s stress-induced “spiral”
In Kreher, Powers, and Granger’s (2012) study on “The relationship between cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase, and cognitive bias in young women,” the neurological experience of “overdrive” is particularly pronounced in young women due to a specific combination of two hormones: cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA). When both biomarkers are elevated, an increase in “masked effective priming” becomes evident, where the brain processes negatively valenced stimuli more rapidly than ever, unconsciously. For a student, the brain is flagging what seems like “threats” to it, which could be a challenging 12-page essay or a low practice exam score before the final. These flags come up before the conscious mind is able to rationalize them and stabilize your emotions, causing any negative stimuli that appears to be interpreted through a lens of failure rather than rationality.
During finals, a highly stressful environment occurs that leads to a unique physiological state in young women that cannot be labeled as just stress alone. Instead, it is a state of being where we constantly reinforce a negative outlook on our future performances on, for example, the exams that are imminent. Instead of simply processing information, the brain begins to reinforce aversive stimuli. Since the brain is engaged with the “masked effective priming,” the working memory within the brain’s capacity begins to decline significantly, causing neural inefficiency. Working memory is responsible for holding complex chemical equations, multi-step reactions, or complex theories in mind, and when diverted away from, exam performance can commonly become diminished as a result. It also explains why, after hours of constantly “studying,” you may feel cognitively exhausted and unable to recall any of the details of the material you just practiced or read over to yourself “more than a million times,” it seems.
The cognitive bias towards negative information and stimuli that occurs in young women as a byproduct of how two endogenous hormones react becomes a physical barrier to using the tools we most obviously have, but cannot access, during a high-stress level week. In a study “Why is Depression More Prevalent in Women?” by Paul R. Albert (2015), it is reinforced that young women, from ages 14-25, are biologically more prone to internalizing symptoms, where the brain projects the stress inwards rather than outwards—which causes the blaming of yourself most times as the first reaction, instead of the curriculum or a “bad exam.” Research indicates that women also display a higher sensitivity to interpersonal factors. A grade doesn’t just seem like a number—but a threat or a potential boost to socio-professional standing and self-worth, which can further spike hormone levels that create the “negative filtering.”
What can you do to combat cognitive bias?
With the analysis of the unique states that the female mind can be subjected to during finals week, we can find ways to reformulate cognitive biases and actually make them beneficial. By adopting the process of cognitive reappraisal, it becomes easier to shift the brain from a state of negativity to productivity and, above all, self-preservation.
(1) Rather than labeling common bodily expressions, such as a racing heart, sweaty palms or being unable to sit still as simply anxiety, these can be reframed as “readiness” to do well on an exam. Although we are biologically predisposed to see our performance as negative when highly stressed, there is no reason to idly accept that. Instead, we can create shifts that help the brain interpret these reactions as fuel to perform well on the exam or continue to study effectively without burnout.
(2) Additionally, since women have higher sensitivity to interpersonal factors, joining peer-led study groups can offset this susceptibility. Social interaction with positive outcomes (i.e., bonding over content that may be hard, understanding topics better when explaining to each other, etc) increases oxytocin, a hormone that promotes trust and bonding, which significantly helps to reduce stress loads as an antithesis to high cortisol levels.
(3) Simply taking a break in between studying can also help you, in a sense, “get out of your head”! Use the “Pomodoro” method—I promise it’s actually real! 15-20 minutes of a mental break where you take time for yourself, whether that be listening to music, watching an episode of your favorite show or doing a relaxing face mask, can make all the difference.
Although finals inevitably cause stress one way or another, recognizing it as a period of high biological vulnerability can allow us to realize that it is a temporary state, and therefore, offset it with positive and grounding actions, rather than believing it is a result of permanent academic failures.