Major formulations of stress are presented (Cannon, 1932; Selye, 1951-1956) both to
clarify the nature of what has proved to be a familiar but vague construct, and also to provide
background to the theoretical context (see Koolhaas et al., 2013, for a review). In Chapter 1,
the interplay between stress and Working Memory (WM) is introduced where WM: (a)
represents a 'domain-free' or 'domain-general' ability to control attention, (b) is separable
from short-term memory (STM), and (c) is an important component of the cognitive
architecture most affected by stress (Schoofs, Preuss, & Wolf, 2008; and Wolf & Smeets,
2009).
Current immediate-memory theories (e.g., cognitive interference theories; see Eysenck,
Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007) are reviewed in the following chapters, chapters 2 and 3,
which represent a robust approach to stress and cognition. The main focus is on anxiety--a
form of stress (Mauricio, 2009)--within general populations rather than within anxious ones,
and there is an emphasis on individual difference characteristics in anxiety as a disposition or
trait, typically assessed by self-report scales of anxiety such as Spielberger's State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory.
