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Pain, hunger, fear, and psychological upset are stress' frequent forms, and a person under stress is often assumed to be on heightened alert. In moments where people were hurt, it is always imagined that an internal security system, which will scout for different danger signs, is activated.

However, a new study conducted by New York University neuroscientists has cautioned that being under acute stress can hinder a person's ability to recognize the changes around his/her that could be threatening from a swerving car to a person's unexpected behavioral shift. The delay in recognition will put people at risk of inappropriately responding to new dangers.

Understanding stress will be the key to understanding the new discovery. First, homeostasis is a condition where the body is at a resting state, and the condition features normal and peaceful heart rates, breathing, and functionalities. Stress is a physiological change that will bring people out of homeostasis. In stress, a part of the nervous system known as the HPA axis, which is a chain reaction that involves the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands, will go into action by releasing cortisol and other hormones in an attempt to calm and revert the body back to homeostasis. Hence, the human body is aroused once it is under stress.

Psychology Today would clarify that the reaction is not always a bad thing since a right amount of arousal can enhance performance. In other words, stress can make people more alert and responsive, and it will also explain why there are some individuals who think they can do best under pressure.

Yet, a previous research has already pinpointed some of the ways that stress can interfere with a person's cognitive function, which is the ability to think and learn. The new study, which was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, is a part of a body of work that deeply investigates how acute stress would impact the individual's emotional control and flexibility. Flexibility, in this context, is about the ability to learn from the environment and update the responses based on the situation.