Stress and worry from the COVID-19 pandemic may have impaired people’s cognitive abilities and altered risk perception, new research has revealed.
The pandemic has undoubtedly tested psychological limits, and seen many people struggle with their mental health, but a new study from McGill University and The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) has revealed more of the true extent of the impact of the virus and lockdown.
In a survey of more than 1,500 Americans online from April to June 2020, participants were asked to rate their level of worry about the COVID-19 pandemic and complete an array of psychological tests to measure their basic cognitive abilities like processing and maintaining information in mind. The data was then compared to results of the same tests collected before the pandemic.
For example, participants completed an information processing test where they were asked to match pairs of digits and symbols according to a fixed rule.
Participants’ risk attitudes were measured using an economic decision task where they made a series of hypothetical choices between a ‘certain’ option – for example, a sure win of $75 – and a ‘risky’ option – a 25 per cent chance of winning $0 and a 75 per cent chance of winning $100.
The researchers found that those who experienced more pandemic-related worry had reduced information processing speed, ability to retain information needed to perform tasks, and heightened sensitivity to the odds they were given when taking risks.
The pandemic group also performed more poorly on the simple cognitive tasks than the pre-pandemic group.
Additionally, participants in the last wave of data collection showed slower processing speed, lower ability to maintain goals in mind, and were more sensitive to risk than those in the first wave.
Interestingly, the study found that pandemic worry predicted individuals’ tendency to distort described risk levels: underweighting likely probabilities and overweighting unlikely probabilities.
This suggests that worry related to COVID may have affected people’s decision-making style, which researchers point out as being crucial in influencing key decisions, such as about getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
“The basic cognitive abilities measured here are crucial for healthy daily living and decision-making,” says Kevin da Silva Castanheira, a graduate student in McGill’s Department of Psychology and the study’s first author.
“The impairments associated with worry observed here suggest that under periods of high stress, like a global pandemic, our ability to think, plan, an evaluate risks is altered. Understanding these changes are critical as managing stressful situations often relies on these abilities.”
“The impact of stress and of worry on cognitive function are well known, but are typically studied in the laboratory setting,” says Dr Madeleine Sharp, a researcher and neurologist at The Neuro and study author.
“Here, we were able to extend these findings by studying the effects of a real-world stressor in a large sample.
“An important future direction will be to examine why some people are more sensitive than others to stress and to identify coping strategies that help to protect from the effects of stress.”
