Acute stress impairs visual narrative comprehension in younger but not older adults

Visual narrative comprehension is essential for navigating modern society, where information, rules, and news are frequently communicated through images, diagrams, and visual stories. Encoding a coherent narrative from disparate elements is critical for all age groups. Although recent data indicate that stress levels have risen compared to previous decades, the impact of stress on visual narrative comprehension remains underexplored. This study explored how acute stress affects narrative comprehension in younger (N = 203, 18-57 years; M = 23 years; Experiment 1) and older adults (N = 212, 60-85 years; M = 67 years; Experiment 2). Participants were assessed under both acute stress and neutral conditions. A tool for inducing acute stress online employed mathematical and logical tasks under time pressure, along with elements that simulate social stress. Participants were presented with pictorial stories comprising three panels, where the second panel was intentionally left blank. Their task was to comprehend the stories and determine whether the presented pictorial inference for the missing event was correct or incorrect. Results revealed that acute stress negatively impacted narrative comprehension in younger adults, while the older adults' comprehension remained unaffected by acute stress. Similarly, younger adults demonstrated reduced confidence in their responses under stress, whereas older adults’ confidence levels remained unaffected. These findings highlight the relationship between visual narrative comprehension, stress, and aging, suggesting that, with age and experience, comprehenders may develop more differentiated event schemas, which makes their comprehension processes more resilient to stress.Public Significance Statement: Understanding how cognitive and perceptional processes function under stress is crucial for daily life across all age groups. Our research demonstrates that acute stress leads to a decline in visual narrative comprehension only in younger adults, while older adults' narrative comprehension remains stable despite stress. This finding suggests that older adults may employ more effective coping mechanisms, which helps maintain their cognitive stability in the face of stress. Consequently, narrative comprehension appears to be more resilient compared to other fundamental cognitive skills. These insights could inform interventions and strategies to support cognitive health across different age groups.