“Today it is generally accepted that the memory system is made up of networks of related information, and that activation of one aspect of such a network facilitates the retrieval of associated memories (Collins & Loftus, 1975; Leichtman, et al., 1992 in van der Kolk, et al., 1996).”
Therefore, it seems likely the reverse can occur - trauma or stress can inhibit encoding, storage, and retrieval of new information. In his research on trauma and cognitive science, Bessel A. van der Kolk found that:
In our PET neuroimaging studies during exposure to traumatic reminders we found increased activation in the right hemisphere (thought to be dominant for evaluating the emotional significance of incoming information and regulating the autonomic and hormonal responses to that information). In contrast, Broca's area (in the left inferior frontal cortex) had a simultaneous significant decrease in oxygen utilization (1998).
Writing is an arduous task because it requires skills such as comprehension, language production, memory, and attention. I always wondered why my students could talk for hours about the subtle differences of mangoes from different countries, but when I asked them to write five sentences about any subject, they froze. In order to write, people must allocate a great deal of energy towards their work. With speaking, it is easy for a speaker to “establish common ground”
with her audience (Matlin, 2002). However, writing expects that the student be able to convey her feelings in a very structured format. To have a chance at success in this world, the women must learn the written and communicative skills of the “language of power”
instead of the “linguistic form”
of English that she knows, such as Black American English or a Creole form of English (Delpit, 1995). This means she must write according to the demanding rules of Standard American English. “Writing is a task that requires virtually every cognitive activity...attention, memory, imagery, background knowledge, metacognition, reading, problem solving, creativity, reasoning, and decision making (Kellogg, 1996 in Matlin, 2002).”
I suppose this is why my students feel so overwhelmed by the essay portion of the GED test. With so many cognitive tasks happening collectively, there is so much room for error while writing. In addition, students with learning difficulties may have trouble with perceptual-motor skills, which are “tasks that combine visual or auditory skills with writing (Matson, 1988).”
As trauma affects attention, memory, and comprehension, it has also been proven to affect language production: