Final answer:
Emotional stress can interfere with learning and brain development, affecting neuron development and impairing cognitive functions such as memory and reasoning, thus making the statement true.
Step-by-step explanation:
Emotional stress can indeed interfere with learning and brain development, so the statement that emotional stress can interfere with learning and brain development is true. Stress hormones raised from depression can affect memory and thinking by disrupting healthy neuron development, potentially leading to shrinkage in the brain. This can impair a student's learning abilities by causing issues such as lack of focus, being easily distracted, struggling to learn new skills, having poor working memory, and impaired reasoning and decision-making. However, it's also important to note that stress triggers the release of neurotransmitters and hormones that can strengthen the formation of memories, a process explained by arousal theory. This underscores the complex relationship between emotional stress, memory, and learning.