Posted on 12/02/2021 4:04:01 PM PST by ConservativeMind
The COVID-19 pandemic has tested our psychological limits. Some have been more affected than others by the stress of potential illness and the confusion of constantly changing health information and new restrictions. A new study finds the pandemic may have also impaired people's cognitive abilities and altered risk perception, at a time when making the right health choices is critically important.
Scientists surveyed 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 a battery of psychological tests to measure their basic cognitive abilities like processing and maintaining information in mind. The data were then compared to results of the same tests collected before the pandemic.
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 performed more poorly on the simple cognitive tasks than the pre-pandemic group. Also, 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 is crucial as it may influence people's decisions 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. "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."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Indeed. I didn't need any "study" to perceive this. All I've needed to do is look around me over the past 20 or so months.
Oh please. The constant din of lies and threats can make anyone go unstable. We don’t need the shysters of the Mental Health Industry to invent more fake disorders. Next on the agenda will be the shrinks recommending drugs be put in the municipal water supply. Oh, wait. They’ve already done that.
The authors may confused cause and effect. Impaired cognitive ability tends to do that to people.
Prime example # 1:
People driving alone with masks on.
Kind of a Captain Obvious observation, but stress, especially over a period of years, can cause cognitive function to suffer. Also, the actual study might not meet the preconceived notions some here are expressing...
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0260061
No doubt that looks like a legit website
Yu mean to say “slow” thinkers are more prone to fall for the media created hysteria re Covid? Why do tell. Almost like slow thinkers are more prone to vote Democrat.
/sarc
Prime example # 2:
The masked lady I saw on the road the other day walking her dog,,,
,,, a dog with a mask on it.
A few days ago I was transcribing a WebEx meeting wherein one of the participants apologized for his muffled voice as he was double masked.
By himself in a room, wearing not just one mask but two.
This is the level of stupidity/paranoia/ignorance (plus a hefty dose of virtue signalling) that we're dealing with.
I’m inclined to believe that this is a desired result of those in power pushing the daily insanity of this virus and The Jab.
Why else would they double down every time more evidence comes out about their misrepresentation of the virus and the Jab?
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