During the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, fear of disease and its consequences, recommended lifestyle changes, and severe restrictions set by governments acted as stressors and affected people’s mood, emotions, mental health, and well-being. Many studies conducted during this crisis focused on affective and physiological responses to stress, but few studies examined how the crisis affected cognition. The present cross-sectional study examined the relationship between physiological, affective, and cognitive responses to the epidemic. In an online survey conducted at the height of the first wave of the epidemic in Slovenia (April 15-25, 2020), 830 Slovenian residents aged 18–85 years reported the effects of stressors (confinement, problems at home, problems at work, lack of necessities, increased workload), experienced emotions, generalized anxiety, perceived stress, changes in health, fatigue and sleep quality, and perceived changes in cognition during the epidemic. Risk factors for stress (neuroticism, vulnerability, general health, gender, age) were also recorded. We hypothesized that stressors and stress risk factors will be related to subjective cognitive decline, with negative emotions, generalized anxiety, perceived stress, and physical symptoms acting as mediator variables. On average, the results showed a mild subjective cognitive decline during the epidemic. In structural equation modeling, 34% of its variance was predicted by the mediator variables, with negative emotions and physical symptoms having the largest contribution. Stress risk factors were predictably related to the four mediator variables. Among the stressors, confinement showed the strongest effect on the four mediator variables, implying the importance of thoughtful communication about necessary restrictive measures during emergency circumstances. The results of this study indicate that the possibility of altered cognitive function should be considered when planning work and study activities during the epidemic.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19流行期间感知压力与主观认知下降之间的关系

在 COVID-19 疫情爆发期间，对疾病及其后果的恐惧、建议的生活方式改变以及政府制定的严格限制成为压力源，影响了人们的情绪、情绪、心理健康和福祉。在这场危机期间进行的许多研究都集中于对压力的情感和生理反应，但很少有研究探讨危机如何影响认知。本横断面研究探讨了对流行病的生理、情感和认知反应之间的关系。在斯洛文尼亚第一波疫情高峰期（2020 年 4 月 15 日至 25 日）进行的一项在线调查中，830 名 18 岁至 85 岁的斯洛文尼亚居民报告了压力源的影响（禁闭、家庭问题、工作问题、生活必需品缺乏、工作量增加），疫情期间经历的情绪、广泛性焦虑、感知压力、健康状况、疲劳和睡眠质量变化、感知认知变化。压力的危险因素（神经质、脆弱性、一般健康状况、性别、年龄）也被记录下来。我们假设压力源和压力风险因素与主观认知能力下降有关，其中负面情绪、广泛性焦虑、感知压力和身体症状作为中介变量。平均而言，结果显示疫情期间主观认知能力轻度下降。在结构方程模型中，其方差的34%是由中介变量预测的，其中负面情绪和身体症状的贡献最大。可以预见，压力风险因素与四个中介变量相关。在压力源中，限制对四个中介变量的影响最强，这意味着在紧急情况下就必要的限制措施进行深思熟虑的沟通的重要性。本研究结果表明，在规划疫情期间的工作和学习活动时，应考虑认知功能改变的可能性。