The stress factor: serving or at the expenses of memory?

Discover the impact of stress on memory and learning in our latest article by Dr. Patrick Fellus. Dive into the effects of stress, from engrammation to automation, and how Froggymouth helps children overcome learning challenges through positive stress.

Dr. Patrick FELLUS

- Founder of the French Society of Pediatric Orthodontics
- Inventor of Froggymouth

YOU WHO ARE NOW FAMILIAR WITH FROGGYMOUTH, YOU MAY HAVE BEEN SURPRISED BY THE CONSTANT REFERENCE WE MAKE TO STRESS, AN ELEMENT THAT IS NOT MENTIONED IN ANY OTHER PUBLICATIONS REFERRING TO LEARNING.

A second case concerns a two-year-old child presenting a lymphangioma of the posterior part of the tongue and multicyts at the pharyngeal level causing a permanent lingual protrusion posture, how can he react to the stimulations caused by wearing Froggymouth in less than five minutes?

We tend to consider stress as a negative element in the learning process, with many studies published in this direction.

Chronic stress overactivates the HPA axis (hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenaline), which can create dendrite atrophy in these structures, alter synaptic plasticity, and decrease sensitivity to neurotransmitters (Joëls et al. 2006). Prolonged stress harms the structures responsible for the normal functioning of the individual and also to the possibility of learning since the connections are atrophied.

But there is also a positive effect of stress and the blog of Olivier Bégin-Caouette as well as the work of Freddy Jeanneteau, head of the team "Stress, hormones and plasticity" at the Functional Genomics Institute (IGF) of Montpellier enlightens us on this aspect.

Kim, Lee, Han, and Packard (2001) specify that stress is a factor that acts on synaptic plasticity and the functioning of the hippocampus, the structure responsible for storage.

A study by Joëls, Pu, Wiegert, Oitzl, and Krugers (2006) offers a very interesting analysis, the authors have highlighted the fact that stress facilitates memory mechanisms only when it is felt at the moment when the organism must memorize the event and only when hormones and neurotransmitters activate the same networks as those activated by learning.

Therefore, it is crucial that there is convergence in time and space between learning and the cause of stress. It must be understood that all the positive effects of stress that follow are so insofar as the stress experienced by the organism strengthens the connections of learning and not those related to another event.

Stress seems to have a reinforcing effect on neural connections. Shors (2004) shows that this effect is manifested at the macroscopic level. This is due to the fact that mineralocorticoid hormones play a role in all the tasks that characterize consolidation (Zorawski et al., 2005). Thus, these cortisone-like hormones act directly in encoding, integration, selective attention, cognitive efficiency, all of this allowing a stronger consolidation in memory.

Stress releases norepinephrine, peptides, and corticosteroids that generate greater activity of hippocampal neurons (Joëls, Pu, Wiegert, Oitzl, and Krugers, 2006).

All these conditions are met when the child uses Froggymouth during the very first times. The absence of a sealing joint forbids the execution of the suck-swallow motor sequence, hence a major stress at the level of the brain stem, swallowing being a vital praxis.

Fortunately, the child watching his program on the television screen is unaware of anything, but the previously described processes start running. Inhibition of the activity of the facial nerve will favor activation of the trigeminal, allow dental occlusion and the approximation of the lingual dome and the palatal vault, facilitating the discovery and engrammation of the secondary swallowing.

We are indeed in the concomitance between the cause of stress and the learning of a new procedure.

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