The science of access under pressure
Under pressure, access changes.
TRH working model: stress does not only change how a person feels. It can change which capacities are easiest to reach in the moment.
Take the State Assessment- Demand arrivesUncertainty, urgency, conflict or social evaluation raises the stakes.
- Processing shiftsAttention and energy can move toward what feels most salient or threatening.
- Available capacity changesWorking memory and cognitive flexibility may become harder to reach.
- Behaviour follows accessThe response can become faster, narrower or more protective.
- Practice changes the next responseRegulation and repetition can make another option easier to access.
What pressure changes
Pressure does not erase intelligence. It can change which parts of it are easiest to use.
Across studies, acute stress is associated with reduced working memory and cognitive flexibility. Effects on inhibition are less consistent, and the size and direction of a response can vary with timing, intensity, context and the person experiencing it. 12
This helps explain a familiar workplace contradiction: someone can understand the right response in a calm room and still lose access to it during conflict, urgency or scrutiny. The knowledge is still there. Access has changed.
In a tense decision meeting, this can look like a capable leader interrupting, narrowing the options too quickly, or postponing a useful question. That is one possible pattern—not a diagnosis or a universal response.
What this means in practiceTreat a narrowed response as information about the current state—not as proof that the person lacks capability.
How state can shift
The body and brain continually influence one another.
Slow, controlled breathing is not a way to bypass thought. It is one way of working with a physiological process associated with arousal, attention and subjective experience. 3
The TRH working model also uses movement, grounding and body awareness as practice prompts. These are not presented here as equivalents to slow breathing, and the breathing studies below should not be read as evidence for every technique.
Research on slow breathing reports changes in autonomic measures and subjective experience, but findings differ across techniques, durations and populations. A useful practice is not a universal switch, and a felt shift is not the same as a clinical outcome. 34
What this means in practiceUse a brief body-based practice to create more room before deciding what the moment requires.
How change becomes more durable
Insight describes another response. Practice makes that response easier to retrieve.
Learning research distinguishes intention from automaticity. Responses become more habitual when they are repeated in recurring contexts, especially when practice is specific enough to connect a cue with a different action. 5
TRH therefore treats reflection as part of a practice loop: notice the cue, work with the state, try another response, gather feedback, then review what happened. This is a training rationale—not evidence that the complete TRH programme is a clinical treatment.
Interpersonal physiology research also examines how people’s responses vary together in groups. It is an emerging field and does not justify the claim that one leader directly controls another person’s nervous system. 6
What this means in practicePractise the response in the situations where it must eventually become available—not only when conditions are easy.
What the evidence supports—and what we do not claim.
- Stress can affect cognition and behaviour, but effects vary by person, intensity, timing and context.
- Research on some body-based practices—including slow breathing—reports physiological and subjective outcomes, but evidence is not identical across techniques or populations. 3
- TRH applies findings from several research areas; the complete State Training programme has not itself been established as a clinical treatment.
- This work is educational and developmental. It is not a substitute for medical or mental-health care.
Sources and further reading
Stress and executive function
Shields, G. S., Sazma, M. A., & Yonelinas, A. P. (2016). “The effects of acute stress on core executive functions: A meta-analysis and comparison with cortisol.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 68, 651–668.
View sourceArnsten, A. F. T. (2009). “Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 410–422.
View source
Autonomic regulation and breathing
Zaccaro, A., et al. (2018). “How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353.
View sourcePal, G. K., Velkumary, S., & Madanmohan (2004). “Effect of short-term practice of breathing exercises on autonomic functions in normal human volunteers.” Indian Journal of Medical Research, 120(2), 115–121.
View source
Learning, practice, and adaptation
Wood, W., & Rünger, D. (2016). “Psychology of Habit.” Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 289–314.
View source
Interpersonal physiology
Denk, B., et al. (2021). “Influence of stress on physiological synchrony in a stressful versus non-stressful group setting.” Journal of Neural Transmission, 128(9), 1335–1345.
View source
See how pressure changes access for you.
A short assessment helps you notice where pressure narrows access—and where practice may create more room.