Date

9-25-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Laura Rolen

Keywords

stress, working memory, adolescents, performance evaluations

Disciplines

Music | Psychology

Abstract

The organization of memory retrieval is vital to the association between stress responses and negative educational achievements. These stress responses offer an opportunity to study the harmful consequences of prolonged strain on the developing brain, which may impair emotional restraint, self-control, and cognitive development. However, little research considers the fundamental notions of how stress responses from rehearsals for music ensemble performance assessments impact adolescent working memory. This mixed-methods study explored how rehearsal-related stress in music ensemble settings may affect adolescents' working memory. Participants included high school students in grades nine through 12 who participated in performing arts band ensembles. The qualitative data came from semi-structured interview transcripts of participants after the music performance assessments. The quantitative data were collected via stress response surveys among performing arts adolescents during rehearsal preparations for music performance assessments. The impact of these events on working memory was assessed with the Reading Span Task - Computerized Version. This study aimed to inform educators and school administrators about the potential of perceived stress from rehearsal preparations to motivate performing arts adolescents to forget. Lastly, the results indicated that participants exhibited moderate to high perceived stress reactivity and moderate working memory performance, with stress reactivity linked to lower RST pretest scores, with thematic analysis indicating stress-related cognitive, physical, and emotional impairments. These findings suggest that rehearsal-related stress may interfere with working memory performance prior to evaluation but not afterward.

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