To survive, think strategically

To the editor:

In response to "Stress found to activate enzyme that impairs memory, study shows": Your article on how stress causes forgetfulness describes research recently published by Dr. Amy F. T. Arnsten of Yale Medical School. The research suggests that a stress-activated enzyme in the brain named protein kinase C impairs short-term memory and other cognitive functions. Once we become overloaded by stress, we become distractible. This likely evolved as a defense mechanism, because being distractible improves our chances of surviving dangerous and stressful situations, transforming us from thinking to instinctive creatures.

Remember how you changed after 9-11, when you believed we were in eminent threat from terrorists? This is the modern paradox: We are hard-wired by our physiology to become very tactical thinkers in stressful situations, but to survive in our stressful world requires us to think strategically.

DAVE NOCERA, Edison, N.J.