Read et al., (2011) in their study of students at two universities, found that 66% of students in a study of students at two universities, found that 66% reported exposure to major trauma. Experiencing trauma can create changes to the brain. The research summary below illustrates how trauma may impact cognitive, metacognitive, and emotional process that are involved in learning.

Studies on the impact of trauma often focus on individuals with PTSD. While approximately seven to eight percent of the general population is affected by PTSD (Hayes et al., 2012); awareness of the impacts of trauma on learning can create understanding of shifts that can help these and other students succeed.

In individuals with PTSD, being exposed to emotional information can negatively impact goal-directed learning activities, affecting learning of neutral information and memory. This is because, in individuals with PTSD, the brain favours attention to emotional stimuli (Hayes et al., 2012). In Vasterling et al.’s (2002) study, veterans with PTSD demonstrated more difficulty on tasks involving working memory and sustained attention than healthy controls.

In Schweizer & Dalgleish’s (2011) study, trauma survivors who have developed PTSD demonstrated greater challenges with a working memory task than those who had not been exposed to trauma, as well as those who were exposed to trauma but who did not develop PTSD.

In a meta-analysis of studies on children exposed to trauma (whether or not they had fully developed PTSD), displayed difficulties with cognitive functioning, as compared to children without trauma exposure. These difficulties included challenges with executive function, language skills, visual/perceptual skills. Adults with PTSD experience similar challenges with memory and information processing; however, children experience greater challenges than adults with PTSD in some areas, possibly demonstrating the impact of trauma on childhood development (Malarbi et al., 2017).