A current study shows that uncertainity is even more stressful than knowing something infamous is definitely going to happen. But you can learn to live with itA team of researchers has published the most sophisticated experiment ever conceived on the relationship between uncertainty and stress. The volunteers for this experiment played a computer game requiring them to overturn rocks that might have snakes hidden under them. If a snake appeared,a painful electric shock was delivered. The participants were thus highly motivated to figure out which rocks hid the snakes.
Naturally, they tried to memorize the habits of the snake population, or better to avoid the shocks. So the investigators,Archy de Berker and colleagues – made sure that the level of uncertainty – what they call “irreducible uncertainty” or risk – would fluctuate yet remain tall. And this fluctuating uncertainty was precisely tracked by a fancy mathematical equation. This rising and falling uncertainty provided a timeline on which to map participants’ stress responses, as well as their performance in the game.
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Source: theguardian.com