Intra-individual psychological and physiological responses to acute laboratory stressors of different intensity

The Impact of Soccer-specific Psychophysiological Stress on Inhibition and Cognitive Flexibility in Elite Youth Players

While researchers and practitioners attribute an essential role to executive functions (EFs) for soccer performance, the usefulness of respective diagnostics and the predictive value remain unclear. One limitation restricting the translation and relevance of study results to improve actual game performance is the insufficient consideration of competitive conditions. Thus, this study aimed to conduct soccer-specific cognitive diagnostics under a soccer-specific psychophysiological stress condition, mimicing the demands of a competitive game. A total of 92 (Mage = 15.17, SDage= 1.45) youth elite players performed tests for inhibition (flanker task) or cognitive flexibility (number-letter task) with a soccer-specific motor response (i.e., pass into goals). After a pre-test in a neutral condition, players were randomly assigned to a neutral (moderate soccer-specific exercise) or a stress condition (physical stress and competitive instructions and filming for psychological stress). Objective (i.e., cortisol, heart rate variability) and subjective stress-related measures (i.e., SAM, VAS) were assessed six times throughout experimental procedure. Analyses revealed significant interaction effects between time and condition for all objective and subjective variables indicating a successful experimental stress induction. For cognitive performance, results revealed significant main effects of time, but no significant interaction effects between time and condition. However, descriptive statistics suggested improved performance under stress, with decreased flanker effect and switch costs. Additionally, response time variability in the flanker task significantly decreased in the stress condition. These findings offer insights into individual stress perception and processing under game-related psychophysiological demands, expanding previous research on situational EF alterations that also hold relevance for applied practitioners.

The feigned annoyance and frustration test to activate the sympathoadrenal medullary system

When perceived as threatening, social interactions have been shown to trigger the sympathoadrenal medullary system as well as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis resulting in a physiologic stress response. The allostatic load placed on human health and physiology in the context of acute and chronic stress can have profound health consequences. The purpose of this study was to develop a protocol for a lab-based stress stimulus using social-evaluative threat. While several valid, stress-stimulating protocols exist, we sought to develop one that triggered a physiologic response, did not require significant lab resources, and could be completed in around 10 min. We included 53 participants (29 men and 24 women) and exposed them to a modified version of the Stroop Color-Word Interference Task during which the participants were made to feel they were performing the task poorly while the lead researcher feigned annoyance and frustration. After exposure to this Feigned Annoyance and Frustration (FAF) Test, both the men and women in this study demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful increase in subjective stress on the visual analog scale. Additionally, the men in this study demonstrated a statistically significant increase in heart rate and salivary α-amylase concentrations after exposure to the test. The women in this study did not demonstrate a statistically significant increase in the physiologic stress biomarkers. This protocol for the FAF Test shows promise to researchers with limited time and resources who are interested in experimentally activating the sympathoadrenal medullary system.

When virtual reality becomes psychoneuroendocrine reality: A stress(or) review

This review article was awarded the Dirk Hellhammer award from ISPNE in 2023. It explores the dynamic relationship between stressors and stress from a historical view as well as a vision towards the future of stress research via virtual reality (VR). We introduce the concept of a "syncytium," a permeable boundary that blurs the distinction between stress and stressor, in order to understand why the field of stress biology continues to inadequately measure stress alone as a proxy for the force of external stressors. Using Virtual Reality (VR) as an illustrative example to explicate the black box of stressors, we examine the distinction between 'immersion' and 'presence' as analogous terms for stressor and stress, respectively. We argue that the conventional psychological approaches to stress measurement and appraisal theory unfortunately fall short in quantifying the force of the stressor, leading to reverse causality fallacies. Further, the concept of affordances is introduced as an ecological or holistic tool to measure and design a stressor's force, bridging the gap between the external environment and an individual's physiological response to stress. Affordances also serve to ameliorate shortcomings in stress appraisal by integrating ecological interdependencies. By combining VR and psychobiological measures, this paper aims to unravel the complexity of the stressor-stress syncytium, highlighting the necessity of assessing both the internal and external facets to gain a holistic understanding of stress physiology and shift away from reverse causality reasoning. We find that the utility of VR extends beyond presence to include affordance-based measures of immersion, which can effectively model stressor force. Future research should prioritize the development of tools that can measure both immersion and presence, thereby providing a more comprehensive understanding of how external stressors interact with individual psychological states.

Mastery imagery ability moderates the relationship between heart rate reactivity to acute psychological stress and perceptions of stress and physiological arousal

Imagery has been associated with cardiovascular and psychological responses to stress; however, the mechanisms underlying this association are not fully understood. The present study examined if the ability to image mastering challenging or difficult situations moderated the relationship between heart rate reactivity and perceptions of stress and physiological arousal experienced during acute stress. Four hundred and fifty-eight participants completed a standardized laboratory stress protocol with heart rate being measured throughout. After completing an acute psychological stress task, participants rated how stressed and physiologically aroused they felt (i.e., intensity) and whether they perceived the stress and physiological arousal as being helpful/unhelpful to performance (i.e., interpretation). Mastery imagery ability was assessed by questionnaire. Moderation analyses controlling for gender demonstrated that imagery ability moderated the relationship between heart rate reactivity and interpretation of stress (β = 0.015, p = .003) and perceived physiological arousal (β = 0.013, p = .004). Simple slope analysis indicated that in those with higher imagery ability, heart rate reactivity was associated with stress and arousal being perceived as more positive toward performance. Imagery ability did not moderate the relationship between heart rate reactivity and perceived stress intensity or physiological arousal intensity (p's > .05), but imagery ability did predict lower perceived stress intensity (β = -0.217, p < .001) and perceived physiological arousal intensity (β = -0.172, p < .001). Higher mastery imagery ability may possibly help individuals perceive responses to stress as more beneficial for performance and thus be an effective coping technique.

Acute stress negatively impacts on-task behavior and lecture comprehension

Acute stress has been shown to disrupt cognitive and learning processes. The present study examined the effects of acute stress on mind wandering during a lecture and subsequent lecture comprehension in young adults. Forty participants were randomized to acute stress induction via the Trier Social Stress Test or rest prior to watching a twenty-minute video lecture with embedded mind wandering probes, followed by a lecture comprehension assessment. Stress responses were assessed via heart rate, blood pressure, salivary cortisol, and state anxiety. Individuals exposed to acute stress endorsed greater mind wandering at the first checkpoint and lower lecture comprehension scores. Moreover, state anxiety post stress was positively associated with mind wandering at the first and second checkpoint and negatively associated with lecture comprehension. Only mind wandering at the third checkpoint was negatively correlated with overall lecture comprehension. Taken together, these data suggest that acute stress, mind wandering, and lecture comprehension are inextricably linked.

Acute stress does not modulate selective attention in a composite letter task

Acute stress has been demonstrated to affect a diverse array of attentional processes, one of which is selective attention. Selective attention refers to the cognitive process of deliberately allocating attentional resources to a specific stimulus, while ignoring other, distracting stimuli. While catecholamines have been shown to narrow attention, investigations on the influence of the stress hormone cortisol have yielded ambiguous results. We conducted two separate studies utilizing different laboratory stress induction paradigms to examine if cortisol influences the ability to selectively attend to local or global elements of a visual stimulus. In Study 1, 72 healthy young men took part either in the stressful Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test (SECPT) or a non-stressful (warm water) control, before being exposed to a composite letter task (CLT). Study 2 comprised a sample of 72 healthy young men and women and made use of a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) as well as a non-stressful control version, the friendly-TSST (f-TSST). Via endocrine, physiological, and subjective markers, we confirmed a successful stress induction. As verified with Bayesian statistics, stress did not affect selective attention in neither of the two studies. Furthermore, we were able to replicate the previously demonstrated absence of global precedence for composite figures composed of letters. Our results offer novel insights into the temporal dynamics of the effects of acute stress on attentional processes. Future studies should manipulate the timing of stress induction and investigate the effects of stress on letter vs. non-letter composite figures to shed further light on the underlying mechanisms.

Mindfulness-Based Intervention Effect on the Psychophysiological Marker of Self-Regulation in Women With Endometriosis-Related Chronic Pain

Endometriosis is a gynecological disease that involves a broad biopsychosocial compromise with the potential to create a negative vicious cycle. Despite the complexity of factors influencing women's improvement, most interventions investigated target just the peripheral nociceptive sources of endometriosis-related pain. An alternative is intervening in self-regulation, which can potentially influence multiple domains of the illness experience. The present study examines the effect of a brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) on attention and autonomic nervous system regulation in women with endometriosis-related pain. Also, explore the interaction between these self-regulation domains and the affective pain dimension. An exploratory analysis of the secondary outcomes of a pilot randomized controlled trial was performed. The vagally-mediated Heart Rate Variability (vmHRV) at rest, cognitive stress, and recovery was employed to measure autonomic regulation. The Flanker and Stroop tasks were used to estimate the attention domains. Results showed that bMBI (n = 26) significantly improved Flanker accuracy and Flanker and Stroop reaction time compared to the control group (n = 28). bMBI significantly increased vmHRV at rest and recovery after cognitive stress. Attention mediated the bMBI effect on affective pain improvement. Results suggest that bMBI improves self-regulation domains with the potential to develop a broad biopsychosocial benefit in the endometriosis context. PERSPECTIVE: This article demonstrates the positive impact of a brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention on attention and parasympathetic regulation in women suffering from endometriosis-related pain. This mindfulness-induced self-regulation improvement can benefit affective pain and potentially multiple psychophysiological processes relevant to endometriosis.

Essential amino acid supplements ingestion has a positive effect on executive function after moderate-intensity aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise acutely improves cognitive function (e.g., executive function (EF); memory recognition (MR)) and increases circulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). In addition, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) ingestion acutely shortens the choice reaction time and increases brain BDNF. We examined whether the ingestion of essential amino acid (EAA) supplements (mainly composed of BCAA) would positively impact on cognitive function and circulating BDNF after moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Twenty-two healthy young men received either an EAA supplements or the placebo (PL) 30 min before undergoing aerobic exercise. The participants performed a cycling exercise at 60% of peak oxygen uptake for 30 min. EF after aerobic exercise was better after the EAA treatment than after the PL treatment (P = 0.02). MR (P = 0.38 for response accuracy; P = 0.15 for reaction time) and circulating BDNF (P = 0.59) were not altered by EAA supplements. EF improvement was correlated with increases in some amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine, lysine, phenylalanine; all Ps < 0.05) that are potential substrates for synthesizing neurotransmitters in the brain. These results suggest that EAA supplements ingestion had a positive effect on EF after moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, while MR and BDNF were not altered.

Effects of participant-selected versus researcher-selected music on stress and mood - The role of gender

OBJECTIVE

Previous research suggests differential effects of participant-selected (PS) vs. researcher-selected (RS) music on emotional responses to music listening. This study investigates whether such selection strategies, as well as gender, influence (1) stress and (2) mood responses. Additionally, we examine the role of (3) stimulus-induced emotions and (4) emotion regulation strategies.

METHODS

Participants (N = 61) listened to auditory stimuli (PS music, RS music, sound of lapping water (LW); randomized) on three days and underwent a cold pressor test (CPT) while listening. Stress parameters (subjective acute stress, heart rate, parameter RMSSD, salivary alpha-amylase, salivary cortisol), mood dimensions (calmness, valence, energetic arousal), emotions, and emotion regulation strategies were measured. Multilevel and mediation analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

(1) There were no direct effects of selection strategy or gender on stress responses, but interaction effects indicated that women showed the strongest subjective stress response and the longest HR recovery with PS music, while men showed the lowest HR response to the CPT with PS music. (2) No mood differences emerged between PS and RS music overall. Women showed stronger variability in calmness overall as well as perceived higher arousal when listening to PS music compared to men. (3) Higher stimulus-induced anger in men compared to women and with LW compared to PS was associated with lower calmness and valence, while no consistent pattern emerged for the stress responses. (4) Women scored higher on reappraisal, associated with a decrease in parasympathetic activity, whereas men scored higher on suppression, associated with an increase in endocrine activity.

CONCLUSIONS

Music selection and gender appear to have no direct impact on stress and mood responses overall, although men tend to benefit more from self-selected music than women. Our findings provide first indications that avoiding music stimuli that induce anger may facilitate mood management via music. Furthermore, finding alternative emotion regulation strategies to the strategy of suppression may be a helpful approach to improve music-based stress management.

Assessment of the human response to acute mental stress-An overview and a multimodal study

Numerous vital signs are reported in association with stress response assessment, but their application varies widely. This work provides an overview over methods for stress induction and strain assessment, and presents a multimodal experimental study to identify the most important vital signs for effective assessment of the response to acute mental stress. We induced acute mental stress in 65 healthy participants with the Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test and acquired self-assessment measures (Likert scale, Self-Assessment Manikin), salivary α-amylase and cortisol concentrations as well as 60 vital signs from biosignals, such as heart rate variability parameters, QT variability parameters, skin conductance level, and breath rate. By means of statistical testing and a self-optimizing logistic regression, we identified the most important biosignal vital signs. Fifteen biosignal vital signs related to ventricular repolarization variability, blood pressure, skin conductance, and respiration showed significant results. The logistic regression converged with QT variability index, left ventricular work index, earlobe pulse arrival time, skin conductance level, rise time and number of skin conductance responses, breath rate, and breath rate variability (F1 = 0.82). Self-assessment measures indicated successful stress induction. α-amylase and cortisol showed effect sizes of -0.78 and 0.55, respectively. In summary, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis and sympathetic nervous system were successfully activated. Our findings facilitate a coherent and integrative understanding of the assessment of the stress response and help to align applications and future research concerning acute mental stress.

The impact of physical exercise on the consolidation of fear extinction memories

Based on the mechanisms of fear extinction, exposure therapy is the most common treatment for anxiety disorders. However, extinguished fear responses can reemerge even after successful treatment. Novel interventions enhancing exposure therapy efficacy are therefore critically needed. Physical exercise improves learning and memory and was also shown to enhance extinction processes. This study tested whether physical exercise following fear extinction training improves the consolidation of extinction memories. Sixty healthy men underwent a differential fearconditioning paradigm with fear acquisition training on day 1 and fear extinction training followed by an exercise or resting control intervention on day 2. On day 3, retrieval and reinstatement were tested including two additional but perceptually similar stimuli to explore the generalization of exercise effects. Exercise significantly increased heart rate, salivary alpha amylase, and cortisol, indicating successful exercise manipulation. Contrary to our expectations, exercise did not enhance but rather impaired extinction memory retrieval on the next day, evidenced by significantly stronger differential skin conductance responses (SCRs) and pupil dilation (PD). Importantly, although conditioned fear responses were successfully acquired, they did not fully extinguish, explaining why exercise might have boosted the consolidation of the original fear memory trace instead. Additionally, stronger differential SCRs and PD toward the novel stimuli suggest that the memory enhancing effects of exercise also generalized to perceptually similar stimuli. Together, these findings indicate that physical exercise can facilitate both the long-term retrievability and generalization of extinction memories, but presumably only when extinction was successful in the first place.

Effect of a single session of yoga and meditation on stress reactivity: A systematic review

This systematic review synthesises the evidence for the effectiveness of a single session of yoga or its components including meditation and breathing techniques in reducing acute stress reactivity in healthy adults. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane, CINAHL, and PsycINFO on 30th July 2023 for randomised controlled or crossover trials of yoga components and reporting physiological and/or psychological outcome measure(s) related to stress reactivity. Risk of bias (ROB) was assessed using the Cochrane ROB 2 tool. Data were synthesised narratively. Twenty-one out of 28 eligible studies (n = 2574) relating to 31 interventions (meditation [n = 22], breathing [n = 4] and yoga [n = 5]) reported outcomes in favour of the intervention. Stress reactivity was reported to be reduced by 71% of studies measuring physiological outcomes and 65% of studies measuring psychological outcomes. These studies show that a single session of yoga components is effective in reducing acute stress reactivity in adults and could be recommended for stress management. Future studies with larger populations and a more equal representation of genders and age groups are warranted.

Relationship between heart rate variability and differential patterns of cortisol response to acute stressors in mid-life adults: A data-driven investigation

Cortisol and heart rate variability (HRV) are well-established biomarkers of the human stress response system. While a relationship between cortisol and HRV is assumed, few studies have found evidence of their correlation within single study designs. One complication for isolating such a relationship may lie in individual variability in the cortisol response to stress such that atypical cortisol responding (i.e., elevated or blunted) occurs. To-date, studies on the cortisol response have employed traditional mean-difference-based approaches to examine average magnitude change in cortisol over time. Alternatively, data-driven trajectory modelling, such as latent growth mixture modelling, may be advantageous for quantifying cortisol based on patterns of response over time. Latent growth mixture modelling was used in N = 386 adults to identify subgroups based on trajectories of cortisol responses to stress. The relationship between cortisol and HRV was tested within subgroups. Results revealed a 'prototypical' subgroup characterised by expected rise and fall in cortisol response to stress (n = 309), a 'decline' subgroup (n = 28) that declined in cortisol after stress, and a 'rise' subgroup (n = 49) that increased in cortisol after stress. Within the 'prototypical' subgroup, greater HRV during stress was associated with decline in cortisol after stress from its maximum (r (306) = 0.19, p < 0.001). This relationship failed to emerge in the 'decline' and 'rise' subgroups (p > 0.271). Results document different patterns of cortisol response to stress; among those who exhibit a 'prototypical' response, changes in HRV during stress are related to changes in cortisol after stress.

Wearable technologies for health research: Opportunities, limitations, and practical and conceptual considerations

One of the most notable limitations of laboratory-based health research is its inability to continuously monitor health-relevant physiological processes as individuals go about their daily lives. As a result, we have generated large amounts of data with unknown generalizability to real-world situations and also created a schism between where data are collected (i.e., in the lab) and where we need to intervene to prevent disease (i.e., in the field). Devices using noninvasive wearable technology are changing all of this, however, with their ability to provide high-frequency assessments of peoples' ever-changing physiological states in daily life in a manner that is relatively noninvasive, affordable, and scalable. Here, we discuss critical points that every researcher should keep in mind when using these wearables in research, spanning device and metric decisions, hardware and software selection, and data quality and sampling rate issues, using research on stress and health as an example throughout. We also address usability and participant acceptability issues, and how wearable "digital biomarker" and behavioral data can be integrated to enhance basic science and intervention studies. Finally, we summarize 10 key questions that should be addressed to make every wearable study as strong as possible. Collectively, keeping these points in mind can improve our ability to study the psychobiology of human health, and to intervene, precisely where it matters most: in peoples' daily lives.

Optimal timing of oral metyrapone intake for the suppression of cold-pressor stress-induced cortisol release

BACKGROUND

Pharmacological manipulation of cortisol levels is instrumental in elucidating mechanisms underlying acute stress effects and for distinguishing the physiological and behavioral effects of cortisol from those of the adrenergic system. Administration (oral or IV) of hydrocortisone is a direct and efficient method to elevate cortisol, and thus, frequently used in psychobiological stress research. However, lowering of cortisol (i.e. blockade of stress cortisol) requires a more sophisticated approach, such as the administration of the corticostatic compound metyrapone (MET). However, there is insufficient knowledge about the temporal dynamics of MET for the blocking of stress-induced cortisol reactivity. Thus, the present study aimed to build up an experimental protocol suitable to suppress acute behavioral stress-induced cortisol secretion by MET.

METHODS

50 healthy young men were randomly assigned to one of five treatment groups. They received 750 mg oral MET either 30 (n = 9), 45 (n = 11), or 60 (n = 10) minutes before exposure to a combined cold pressor and mental arithmetic test (stress induction), or were subjected to two different control treatments (placebo 60 min before stress (n = 10) or MET 30 min before non-stressful warm-water condition (n = 10)). Salivary cortisol concentration, hemodynamics, and subjective ratings were assessed.

RESULTS

Suppression of cold stress-induced cortisol release was strongest when MET intake was scheduled 30 min prior to stress onset. Cardiovascular stress-responses and subjective ratings remained unaffected by MET.

CONCLUSION

In healthy young males, 750 mg of MET efficiently block cold stress-induced cortisol release when oral administration is scheduled 30 min prior to stress onset. This finding may guide future research in improving timing of suppression of stress-induced cortisol secretion.

Biological stress responses to multitasking and work interruptions: A randomized controlled trial

In the course of digitalization, new stressors are emerging. In modern working and living environments, two ubiquitous, technology-mediated stressors are multitasking demands and work interruptions. However, biological stress response patterns to multitasking and work interruptions have been sparsely investigated so far. We thus aimed to comprehensively assess biological stress response patterns to both stressors and, additionally, test whether responses differ between digital and partially non-digital settings. A controlled experimental set-up was established and humans' biological markers of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, and the immune system were assessed. N = 186 healthy participants (mean age: 23.2 ± 4.3 years, 74.7% female, body mass-index: 22.3 ± 3.1 kg/m2) took part in this pre-registered study. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of 6 experimental conditions (1 digital single-task, 3 dual-tasks [2 parallel tasks and 1 interruption], 1 multitasking, and 1 passive, control condition). Each one of the dual-tasking as well as the multitasking conditions included a non-digital sub-task, i.e., performing a task in presence of an examiner. All other conditions involved digital tasks only. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) levels as a marker for SNS reactivity significantly changed in work interruptions, parallel dual-tasking, and multitasking conditions. No changes were found for control conditions. Furthermore, no significant changes over time and no differences between the conditions were identified for three biological markers: cortisol as marker for HPA axis activity as well as for two immune system markers (secretory Immunoglobulin-A, C-reactive protein). A time course similar to sAA was found for perceived stress: with increases during task execution and decreases afterwards in multitasking and parallel dual-tasking. Yet, it did not change for the work interruption, passive control, and single-tasking condition. Overall, our findings show that dual- and multitasking are perceived as stressful and are associated with an activation of the SNS, but not with responses of HPA axis or immune system. This was consistent for digital as well as partially digital task demands. Our findings will also inform future research into the differential stress effects of digital and non-digital tasks to advance our understanding of biological stress response-patterns to multitasking and work interruptions. Therefore, our findings are highly relevant for understanding the long-term biological health effects of stress in modern (digitalized) environments.

Stress increases the spontaneous release of ACh and may be involved in the generation and maintenance of myofascial trigger points in mouse

An increase in spontaneous neurotransmission may be related to myofascial pain. Sympathetic neurons innervate most of the neuromuscular junction sand are involved in the modulation of synaptic transmission. Therefore, a direct action of stress on acetylcholine release is expected. For this reason, this study aims to evaluate the relationship between stress and spontaneous neurotransmission. Five acute stressors (immobilization, forced swimming, food and water deprivation, social isolation and ultrasound) were tested in 6 weeks adult Swiss male mice. Subsequently, these types of stress were combined to generate a model of chronic stress. The study of ACh release was evaluated before and after the application of stress by intracellular recording of spontaneous neurotransmission (mEPPs). In each one of the stressors, an increase in the frequency of mEPPs was obtained immediately after treatment, which remained elevated for 5 days and thereafter returned to control values after a week. With chronic stress, a much higher increase in the frequency of mEPPs was obtained and it was maintained for 15 days. In summary, stress, both in its acute and chronic forms, increased spontaneous neurotransmission significantly. There is a possibility that chronic stress is related with the genesis or maintenance of myofascial pain.

Psychophysiological stress response after a 6-week Mindful Self-Compassion training in psychiatric rehabilitation inpatients: a randomized post-test only study

Objectives

Mindfulness-based interventions (including self-compassion interventions) are effective in improving stress management at psychological and physical levels. Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is a newly developed program particularly aimed at increasing self-compassion. The main objective of this study was to determine whether the psychophysiological stress response during a social-evaluative speaking task differs in inpatients participating in the MSC or the Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) program at the end of their 6-week psychiatric rehabilitation stay (i.e., post-test only design).

Method

Data from 50 inpatients (25 MSC, 25 PMR, 35 female) aged 19 to 76 years (M = 47.22, SD = 12.44) were analyzed in terms of psychophysiological stress response. For this purpose, heart rate variability, heart rate, and blood pressure were assessed together with several psychometric variables: positive and negative affect (PANAS), subjective stress perception (Visual Analog Scale), self-compassion (Self-Compassion Scale), cognitive reappraisal and suppression (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire), psychological distress (Brief Symptom Inventory-18), and appraisal and rumination (selected items).

Results

After correction for alpha inflation no differences in the psychophysiological stress response and psychometric parameters between the MSC and PMR group were found.

Discussion

In general, our results indicate that MSC is not superior to PMR training. However, more research with clinical randomized controlled trials investigating larger samples are needed to further affirm these initial findings.

Stress, a Brief Update

Stress is fundamental for health and adaptation; it is an evolutionarily conserved response that involves several systems in the organism. The study of the stress response could be traced back to the end of the nineteenth century with George Beard's or Claude Bernard's work and, from that moment on, several studies that have allowed the elucidation of its neurobiology and the consequences of suffering from it were consolidated. In this theoretical review, we discuss the most relevant researches to our knowledge on the study of stress response, from the concept of stress, its neurobiology, the hormonal response during stress, as well as its regulation, the effects of acute and chronic stress, stress from cognition, the different stress responses during life, as well as its relationship with different psychiatric disorders. Taken together, the reviewed research updates the classic perspective on stress, increasing the factors that should be considered in research to explore the effects of stress on health.

Effects of mild psychological stress on facial impressions

Introduction

Appearance plays an important role in maintaining a positive impression in social interactions. Psychological stress is known to have an adverse effect on facial skin, as indicated in previous studies. However, no study has investigated the negative effect of stress on facial impressions. Therefore, we aimed to investigate changes in impressions from facial images before and after mental stress tasks using an online survey.

Method

Thirteen Japanese men were recruited to have their facial photographs taken before and after undergoing a psychological stress task. We observed the physiological effects of an increased heart rate and decreased blood flow on the cheek skin. Four average facial images were created for each time point (control: "baseline;" stress: "0H," "1H," and "3H") from their facial photographs. An online survey was conducted with 700 Japanese participants, who compared the "baseline" to other images and selected one of two options in each of the six questionnaire items of impressions.

Results

The results showed that the rate of participants who chose "baseline" was significantly lower in the items "looks tired," "looks old," and "looks irritated" and higher in "looks clean-cut" and "looks healthy" compared to other images created from photographs after the stress task ("0H," "1H," and "3H").

Conclusion

These results suggest that psychological stress loading not only causes physiological changes in autonomic nervous activity and skin blood flow but also negatively impacts facial impressions for a few hours following a mild stress load.

Differential effects of acute exercise on emotional memory in men and women

Exercise may change emotional memory, which is associated with the induction of mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. This effect of exercise may be influenced by exercise-induced cortisol release. Depending on sex, cortisol exerts differential effects on emotional memory consolidation. However, whether acute exercise and exercise-induced cortisol release have sex-dependent effects on emotional memory has not been established. Therefore, first, we aimed to determine the effects of acute exercise on emotional memory, separately for men and women, in a within-subjects design. Second, we aimed to examine whether the effects of acute exercise on emotional memory are related to the effects of exercise-induced cortisol release, separately for men and women. Sixteen healthy men and 15 healthy women were presented with positive and negative emotional images, followed by either rest or a vigorous-intensity cycling exercise condition using a within-subjects design on separate days. Salivary cortisol was measured before presenting the emotional images presentation and 20 min after each intervention. Emotional memory was assessed two days later. Vigorous-intensity exercise decreased emotional memory in women, whereas there was no change in men after rest or exercise. Cortisol levels increased after exercise intervention in both men and women, although there was no association between cortisol levels and emotional memory. These findings demonstrate that the effect of a single bout of vigorous-intensity exercise on emotional memory differs between men and women and is associated with decreased emotional memory in women.

Internal but not external locus of control predicts acute stress response

Fluctuation patterns of physiological response after acute stress might indicate one's coping potential with stress, yet this relationship has not been widely examined. The present study investigated how Locus of Control (LOC) can influence cortisol and HR responses in an uncontrollable stressful situation. Seventy-three participants were exposed to acute stress through the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) after finishing the LOC measures. Multilevel regression results suggested that a curvilinear function best captured the shape of the cortisol trajectories which was further moderated by the level of internal LOC. Moreover, higher internality was associated with greater cortisol reactivity and faster recovery. Our study reveals the link between internal control and endocrine stress response. Finally, cortisol upregulation was discussed, as well as the internality-related accelerated recovery of cortisol, which may be involved in the effect of motivation arousal for better adaptation.

MicroSweat: A Wearable Microfluidic Patch for Noninvasive and Reliable Sweat Collection Enables Human Stress Monitoring

Stress affects cognition, behavior, and physiology, leading to lasting physical and mental illness. The ability to detect and measure stress, however, is poor. Increased circulating cortisol during stress is mirrored by cortisol release from sweat glands, providing an opportunity to use it as an external biomarker for monitoring internal emotional state. Despite the attempts at using wearable sensors for monitoring sweat cortisol, there is a lack of reliable wearable sweat collection devices that preserve the concentration and integrity of sweat biomolecules corresponding to stress levels. Here, a flexible, self-powered, evaporation-free, bubble-free, surfactant-free, and scalable capillary microfluidic device, MicroSweat, is fabricated to reliably collect human sweat from different body locations. Cortisol levels are detected corresponding to severe stress ranging from 25 to 125 ng mL^-1 averaged across multiple body regions and 100-1000 ng mL^-1 from the axilla. A positive nonlinear correlation exists between cortisol concentration and stress levels quantified using the perceived stress scale (PSS). Moreover, owing to the sweat variation in response to environmental effects and physiological differences, the longitudinal and personalized profile of sweat cortisol is acquired, for the first time, for various body locations. The obtained sweat cortisol data is crucial for analyzing human stress in personalized and clinical healthcare sectors.

Why is subjective stress severity a stronger predictor of health than stressor exposure? A preregistered two-study test of two hypotheses

Subjective stress severity appraisals have consistently emerged as better predictors of poor health than stressor exposure, but the reason for this is unclear. Subjective stress may better predict poor health for one of at least two reasons. First, because stressor exposure measures consider all stressors as equal, stress severity measures-which "weight" stressors by self-reported severity-might better predict poor health simply by not treating all stressors as being equally impactful. Second, subjective stress appraisals may index important individual differences in stress vulnerability. We tested these two possibilities in this preregistered, two-study manuscript. Across these two different studies, subjective stress severity was a better predictor of poor health than independently weighted stress severity or stressor exposure. These results demonstrate that, beyond weighting of stressful experiences, subjective stress severity indexes health-relevant individual differences. Moreover, the results suggest that subjective stress severity may be the preferred stress summary metric even when derived from imprecise stress assessment instruments.

Exploring the light/dark box test: Protocols and implications for neuroscience research

BACKGROUND

Knowledge on the neurobiological systems underlying psychiatric disorders has considerably evolved due to findings on basic research using animal models. Anxiety-like behaviors in rodents are widely explored in neuroethological apparatuses, such as the light-dark box (LDB) test through different protocols, which have been shown to influence the behavioral outcomes and probably the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

NEW METHOD

Adult male Wistar rats were submitted to LDB in different room illumination conditions (25/0, 65/0 and/or 330/0 lux), initial positioning in the LDB compartments and previous stressful experience in the Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) or restraint stress (RS). Rats' behavior (exploratory and risk assessment) was registered during a 15 min period, divided into blocks of 5 min RESULTS: Exploration of the lit compartment decreased in higher luminosity condition, as after positioning rats in the dark compartment or previous exposure to the EPM, while low luminosity increased exploration of the LDB. No differences were observed on serum corticosterone in all groups and experimental conditions.

COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS

Light intensity and test duration influenced exploration of the LDB jeopardizing the anxiolytic/anxiogenic effects. Low light intensity increased exploration, while high intensity decreased it. These results suggest that 65/0 lux is a neutral condition to investigate possible anxiolytic/anxiogenic effects of drugs and/or exposure to previous aversive stimuli as the EPM.

CONCLUSIONS

Different factors impact on exploratory and risk assessment behaviors which may be related to safety maximization behavior. Unraveling how different factors affect behavior may be a crucial step towards understanding its expression and the contributions on advances in the physiopathology 1 and treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Effects of neuromodulation on cognitive and emotional responses to psychosocial stressors in healthy humans

Physiological and psychological stressors can exert wide-ranging effects on the human brain and behavior. Research has improved understanding of how the sympatho-adreno-medullary (SAM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axes respond to stressors and the differential responses that occur depending on stressor type. Although the physiological function of SAM and HPA responses is to promote survival and safety, exaggerated psychobiological reactivity can occur in psychiatric disorders. Exaggerated reactivity may occur more for certain types of stressors, specifically, psychosocial stressors. Understanding stressor effects and how the body regulates these responses can provide insight into ways that psychobiological reactivity can be modulated. Non-invasive neuromodulation is one way that responding to stressors may be altered; research into these interventions may provide further insights into the brain circuits that modulate stress reactivity. This review focuses on the effects of acute psychosocial stressors and how neuromodulation might be effective in altering stress reactivity. Although considerable research into stress interventions focuses on treating pathology, it is imperative to first understand these mechanisms in non-clinical populations; therefore, this review will emphasize populations with no known pathology and consider how these results may translate to those with psychiatric pathologies.

Habituation of the stress response multiplex to repeated cold pressor exposure

Humans show remarkable habituation to aversive events as reflected by changes of both subjective report and objective measures of stress. Although much experimental human research focuses on the effects of stress, relatively little is known about the cascade of physiological and neural responses that contribute to stress habituation. The cold pressor test (CPT) is a common method for inducing acute stress in human participants in the laboratory; however, there are gaps in our understanding of the global state changes resulting from this stress-induction technique and how these responses change over multiple exposures. Here, we measure the stress response to repeated CPT exposures using an extensive suite of physiologic measures and state-of-the-art analysis techniques. In two separate sessions on different days, participants underwent five 90 s CPT exposures of both feet and five warm water control exposures, while electrocardiography (ECG), impedance cardiography, continuous blood pressure, pupillometry, scalp electroencephalography (EEG), salivary cortisol and self-reported pain assessments were recorded. A diverse array of adaptive responses are reported that vary in their temporal dynamics within each exposure as well as habituation across repeated exposures. During cold-water exposure there was a cascade of changes across several cardiovascular measures (elevated heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO) and Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) and reduced left ventricular ejection time (LVET), stroke volume (SV) and high-frequency heart rate variability (HF)). Increased pupil dilation was observed, as was increased power in low-frequency bands (delta and theta) across frontal EEG electrode sites. Several cardiovascular measures also habituated over repeated cold-water exposures (HR, MAP, CO, SV, LVET) as did pupil dilation and alpha frequency activity across the scalp. Anticipation of cold water induced stress effects in the time-period immediately prior to exposure, indexed by increased pupil size and cortical disinhibition in the alpha and beta frequency bands across central scalp sites. These results provide comprehensive insight into the evolution of a diverse array of stress responses to an acute noxious stressor, and how these responses adaptively contribute to stress habituation.

Cortisol response under low intensity exercise during cognitive-behavioral therapy is associated with therapeutic outcome in panic disorder–an exploratory study

Objectives

Patients with Panic Disorder (PD) show an abnormal stress-induced functioning of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis. Different protocols for stress induction are of rather low relevance for the psychotherapeutic treatment. In practice, interoceptive exposure is often realized as Low Intensity Exercise (LIE), as compared to an incremental cycle exercise test to exhaustion. Currently, it is not known, whether LIE displays an effective interoceptive stressor 1.) leading to a significant anxiety induction; 2.) a comparable HPA- and Sympathetic-Adreno-Medullar (SAM)-axis response in both patients and healthy controls; 3.) stress responses under LIE are associated with treatment outcomes.

Patients and methods

N = 20 patients with PD and n = 20 healthy controls were exposed to ten minutes of LIE on an exercise bike. LIE was applied as part of the interoceptive exposure, during an intensive Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in a day clinic. Heart rate was monitored and salivary cortisol samples collected. Before and after the LIE, state anxiety/ arousal were assessed. In order to evaluate psychopathology, the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale, Mobility Inventory, Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire and Body Sensations Questionnaire were applied, before (T1) and after five weeks (T2) of an intensive CBT.

Results

LIE led to a significant and similar heart rate increase in both groups. Cortisol decreased over time in both groups, especially in male patients. A higher psychopathology before, and after CBT, was associated with a significantly lower cortisol response under LIE.

Conclusions

In the present study, LIE led to a divergent stress response: while there was a significant heart rate increase, cortisol decreased over time, particularly in male patients. A lower reactivity of the HPA-axis seems to be associated with a lower treatment outcome, which may affect extinction based learning. The findings suggest, that interoceptive stimuli should be designed carefully in order to be potent stressors.

Distinct stress-related changes in intrinsic amygdala connectivity predict subsequent positive and negative memory performance

Experiencing stress before an event can influence how that event is later remembered. In the current study, we examine how individual differences in one's physiological response to a stressor are related to changes to underlying brain states and memory performance. Specifically, we examined how changes in intrinsic amygdala connectivity relate to positive and negative memory performance as a function of stress response, defined as a change in cortisol. Twenty-five participants underwent a social stressor before an incidental emotional memory encoding task. Cortisol samples were obtained before and after the stressor to measure individual differences in stress response. Three resting state scans (pre-stressor, post-stressor/pre-encoding and post-encoding) were conducted to evaluate pre- to post-stressor and pre- to post-encoding changes to intrinsic amygdala connectivity. Analyses examined relations between greater cortisol changes and connectivity changes. Greater cortisol increases were associated with a greater decrease in prefrontal-amygdala connectivity following the stressor and a reversal in the relation between prefrontal-amygdala connectivity and negative vs. positive memory performance. Greater cortisol increases were also associated with a greater increase in amygdala connectivity with a number of posterior sensory regions following encoding. Consistent with prior findings in non-stressed individuals, pre- to post-encoding increases in amygdala-posterior connectivity were associated with greater negative relative to positive memory performance, although this was specific to lateral rather than medial posterior regions and to participants with the greatest cortisol changes. These findings suggest that stress response is associated with changes in intrinsic connectivity that have downstream effects on the valence of remembered emotional content.

Comparing two psychosocial stress paradigms for imaging environments - ScanSTRESS and fNIRS-TSST: correlation structures between stress responses

The present post-hoc analysis of two independent studies conducted in different laboratories aimed at comparing reactions of stress activation systems in response to two different psychosocial stress induction paradigms. Both paradigms are based on the Trier Social Stress Test and suited for neuroimaging environments. In an in-depth analysis, data from 67 participants (36 men, 31 women) from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study implementing ScanSTRESS were compared with data from a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study implementing the so-called 'fNIRS-TSST' including 45 participants (8 men, 37 women). We tested the equivalence of correlation patterns between the stress response measures cortisol, heart rate, affect, and neural responses in the two samples. Moreover, direct comparisons of affective and neural responses were made. Similar correlation structures were identified for all stress activation systems, except for neural contrasts of paradigm conditions (stress vs. control) showing significant differences in association with cortisol, heart rate, and affective variables between the two samples. Furthermore, both stress paradigms elicited comparable affective and cortical stress responses. Apart from methodological differences (e.g., procedure, timing of the paradigms) the present analysis suggests that both paradigms are capable of inducing moderate acute psychosocial stress to a comparable extent with regard to affective and cortical stress responses. Moreover, similar association structures between different stress response systems were found in both studies. Thus, depending on the study objective and the respective advantages of each imaging approach, both paradigms have demonstrated their usefulness for future studies.

Perceived control and reactivity to acute stressors: Variations by age, race and facets of control

Greater perceived control is associated with better health and well-being outcomes, possibly through more adaptive stress processes. Yet little research has examined whether facets of perceived control (personal mastery and perceived constraints) predict psychological and physiological stress reactivity. The present study evaluated the associations of personal mastery and perceived constraints with changes in subjective stress and cortisol in response to acute laboratory stressors, with age and race as potential moderators. In the Midlife in the United States Refresher Study (N = 633 adults aged 25-75), participants completed a baseline perceived control measure and were subsequently recruited to participate in the laboratory stress protocol. The protocol consisted of completing two mental stress tasks (mental arithmetic and Stroop) as well as providing saliva samples and subjective stress ratings. Race moderated the association between perceived constraints and subjective stress reactivity, such that higher constraints predicted greater subjective stress responses in White participants, but no association was observed in Black participants. Higher personal mastery and perceived constraints each predicted greater increases in cortisol in response to the stress tasks (AUC_i ) among younger but not older adults. These findings suggest that older adults were buffered against the association between facets of control and cortisol stress reactivity. Discussion on potential racial differences in the link between constraints and stress reactivity are elaborated further, as well as considerations for future work to distinguish between facets of control and examine age and racial differences.

Psychobiological effects of chronic ethnic discrimination in Turkish immigrants: Stress responses to standardized face-to-face discrimination in the laboratory

OBJECTIVE

Ethnic discrimination negatively affects the health of ethnic minorities. The dysregulation of psychobiological stress systems, such as the autonomic nervous system (ANS) or the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, might be an intermediary in this association and chronicity of ethnic discrimination may matter. We studied stress responses to a standardized discriminatory event in Turkish immigrants living in Austria.

BACKGROUND

Seventy-two male Turkish immigrants were recruited; n = 35 had experienced high levels of ethnic discrimination (high), n = 37 infrequent ethnic discrimination (low). During a two-hour laboratory appointment, they underwent a previously validated 10-minute ethnic discrimination paradigm, i.e., a simulated physician's consultation with verbal and non-verbal discriminatory cues. Perceived stress, perceived discrimination, salivary cortisol, and alpha-amylase were assessed seven times, and ANS measures (heart rate, heart rate variability, and electrodermal activity) were measured continuously. In addition, hair cortisol concentrations were determined.

RESULTS

The ethnic discrimination paradigm elicited stress responses across all outcomes in both groups. Compared to the low group, the high group reported higher levels of perceived stress and discrimination, exhibited a less steep increase in cortisol in response to the paradigm, and showed higher hair cortisol concentrations. No group differences were found regarding ANS measures.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of high subjective stress, flattened cortisol responses, and relatively high hair cortisol concentrations may indicate a dysregulation of the HPA axis in chronic ethnic discrimination. A better understanding of the psychobiological effects of chronic ethnic discrimination is crucial given that alterations in stress response systems may, over time, lead to illness and ultimately to substantial health inequities in ethnic minorities.

The Effect of Dental Treatments in Caries Management on Stress and Salivary Protein Levels

A great burden is put on healthcare systems by dental caries and understanding patients’ treatment needs is of utmost importance. The aim of this pre−post study was to assess dental anxiety and the psychological stress induced by two different types of dental treatment (prophylaxis and cavity preparation), by combining psychometric evaluations with salivary biomarkers, in a group of 28 schoolchildren presenting in a university clinic. Pre- and post-treatment unstimulated whole saliva was collected and levels of cortisol, alpha-amylase (sAA) and total protein content were measured. The State−Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and the Frankl Behaviour Rating Scale (FBRS) were applied. Statistical analysis was performed using the Stata/IC 16 (StataCorp) programme. All salivary parameters showed strong positive correlations between pre- and post-treatment levels. Post-treatment, salivary cortisol decreased (p = 0.008, paired t-test), sAA did not change significantly (p = 0.572, sign test), while the sAA/cortisol ratio (AOC) increased (p = 0.036, sign test). There were no correlations between state and trait anxiety levels. State anxiety scores registered significantly higher values for children with an FBRS score of 3 compared with a score of 4 (p < 0.001, unpaired t-test). The post-treatment decrease in the salivary cortisol level was higher for prophylaxis compared with the cavity preparation group (p = 0.024, t-test). These results demonstrate that sAA and cortisol levels are altered differently by psychological stress induced by two different types of dental treatment.

Evaluation of a New Lightweight EEG Technology for Translational Applications of Passive Brain-Computer Interfaces

Technologies like passive brain-computer interfaces (BCI) can enhance human-machine interaction. Anyhow, there are still shortcomings in terms of easiness of use, reliability, and generalizability that prevent passive-BCI from entering real-life situations. The current work aimed to technologically and methodologically design a new gel-free passive-BCI system for out-of-the-lab employment. The choice of the water-based electrodes and the design of a new lightweight headset met the need for easy-to-wear, comfortable, and highly acceptable technology. The proposed system showed high reliability in both laboratory and realistic settings, performing not significantly different from the gold standard based on gel electrodes. In both cases, the proposed system allowed effective discrimination (AUC > 0.9) between low and high levels of workload, vigilance, and stress even for high temporal resolution (<10 s). Finally, the generalizability of the proposed system has been tested through a cross-task calibration. The system calibrated with the data recorded during the laboratory tasks was able to discriminate the targeted human factors during the realistic task reaching AUC values higher than 0.8 at 40 s of temporal resolution in case of vigilance and workload, and 20 s of temporal resolution for the stress monitoring. These results pave the way for ecologic use of the system, where calibration data of the realistic task are difficult to obtain.

Neuroendocrine Response and State Anxiety Due to Psychosocial Stress Decrease after a Training with Subject's Own (but Not Another) Virtual Body: An RCT Study

Previous research involving healthy participants has reported that seeing a moving virtual body from the first person perspective induces the illusion of ownership and agency over that virtual body. When a person is sitting and the virtual body runs, it is possible to measure physiological, behavioral and cognitive reactions that are comparable to those that occur during actual movement. Capitalizing on this evidence, we hypothesized that virtual training could also induce neuroendocrine effects that prompt a decreased psychosocial stress response, as occurs after physical training. While sitting, 26 healthy young adults watched a virtual avatar running for 30 min from the first person perspective (experimental group), while another 26 participants watched the virtual body from the third person perspective (control group). We found a decreased salivary alpha-amylase concentration (a biomarker for the stress response) after the virtual training among the experimental group only, as well as a decreased subjective feeling of state anxiety (but no difference in heart rate). We argue that the virtual illusion of a moving body from the first person perspective can initiate a cascade of events, from the perception of the visual illusion to physiological activation that triggers other biological effects, such as the neuroendocrine stress response.

Early Adversity and Changes in Cortisol and Negative Affect in Response to Interpersonal Threats in the Laboratory

Adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse and neglect, are associated with poor health outcomes. This association may be partially explained by differences in stress physiology. Though most early adverse experiences occur within the context of interpersonal relationships, stress exposures manipulated in the laboratory rarely involve interpersonal interactions beyond the mere presence of others. This study examines whether adverse childhood experiences are associated with differences in affective and cortisol reactivity to two stressors which may more closely resemble the powerlessness and the lack of control characteristic of many adverse childhood experiences: a dominant (vs. submissive) interaction partner and lower (vs. higher) social status. We also manipulate social-evaluative threat as a test of whether these interpersonal stressors are more germane to stress reactivity associated with early adversity than the performance anxiety evoked by more traditional laboratory stressors, such as the Trier Social Stress Test. The results partially support the hypothesis that participants with greater early adversity may be more reactive to interpersonal stressors reminiscent of early adverse experience. Given the interpersonal nature of most adverse childhood experiences, conceptualizing and measuring associations with stress physiology in an interpersonal context may more closely capture the psychological and biological embedding of these early experiences.

Differences in stress system (re-)activity between single and dual- or multitasking in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

AbstractIn the age of digitization, multitasking requirements are ubiquitous, especially in the workplace. Multitasking (MT) describes the activity of performing multiple (at least two) tasks at the same time. Dual tasking (DT) refers to the sequential switching between two tasks. The aim of our systematic review and meta-analysis was first to investigate whether physiological stress systems become activated in response to or during MT/DT and, secondly, whether this (re-)activity is higher compared to single tasking. We focused on the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, and the immune system. The systematic review has been pre-registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020181415). A total of twenty-five articles were identified as eligible, in which n = 26 studies were reported, with N = 1,142 participants. Our main findings are that SNS activity is significantly higher and PNS activity is significantly lower during MT/DT than during single tasking. Only two studies were found, in which HPA axis (re-)activity was surveyed. No eligible study was identified in which immune system (re-)activity was investigated. This is the first systematic synthesis of the literature base showing that stress system activity is increased during MT/DT in comparison to single-tasking.

Does art reduce pain and stress? A registered report protocol of investigating autonomic and endocrine markers of music, visual art, and multimodal aesthetic experience

The pain- and stress-reducing effects of music are well-known, but the effects of visual art, and the combination of these two, are much less investigated. We aim to (1) investigate the pain- and (2) stress-reducing effects of multimodal (music + visual art) aesthetic experience as we expect this to have stronger effects than a single modal aesthetic experience (music/ visual art), and in an exploratory manner, (3) investigate the underlying mechanisms of aesthetic experience, and the (4) individual differences. In a repeated-measures design (music, visual art, multimodal aesthetic experience, control) participants bring self-selected “movingly beautiful” visual artworks and pieces of music to the lab, where pain and stress are induced by the cold pressor test. Activity of the pain and stress responsive systems are measured by subjective reports, autonomic (electrocardiography, electrodermal activity, salivary alpha-amylase) and endocrine markers (salivary cortisol).

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Brief Mindfulness Activity in University Students With Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Engagement

Current theoretical frameworks posit that engagement in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is due to an inability to regulate one's emotions. In turn, mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to enhance emotion regulatory processes in those who engage in NSSI.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a brief mindfulness activity was differentially effective at increasing state mindfulness and decreasing stress following a stress induction task in university students with versus without a history of NSSI engagement.

METHOD

The sample consisted of two groups of participants who identified as women: participants with a history of NSSI engagement (NSSI; n = 57; M_age=20.09, SD = 2.05) and participants without (no-NSSI; n = 87; M_age=20.22, SD = 1.94). All participants were asked to complete pre-intervention measures of state mindfulness and stress and were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness activity (body scan) or control task condition. Following the completion of their respective activities, a Stroop stress induction task was conducted and participants completed post-intervention measures of state mindfulness and stress.

RESULTS

Two 3-way mixed ANOVAs (Time X NSSI status X Condition) were conducted and revealed significant time by condition interactions for both state mindfulness, Wilk's Λ = .93, F(1, 140) = 10.70, p = .001, η_p² = .07, and stress, Wilk's Λ = .97, F(1, 140) = 4.21, p = .04, η_p² = .03. As such, both groups (NSSI/no-NSSI) demonstrated similar increases in state mindfulness and decreases in stress in response to the brief mindfulness activity following the stress induction. Implications for future research and practice will be discussed.HIGHLIGHTSThe brief mindfulness activity effectively increased state mindfulness.The brief mindfulness activity effectively decreased stress.Benefits were experienced similarly among both groups (NSSI/no-NSSI).

Validation of a Light EEG-Based Measure for Real-Time Stress Monitoring during Realistic Driving

Driver’s stress affects decision-making and the probability of risk occurrence, and it is therefore a key factor in road safety. This suggests the need for continuous stress monitoring. This work aims at validating a stress neurophysiological measure—a Neurometric—for out-of-the-lab use obtained from lightweight EEG relying on two wet sensors, in real-time, and without calibration. The Neurometric was tested during a multitasking experiment and validated with a realistic driving simulator. Twenty subjects participated in the experiment, and the resulting stress Neurometric was compared with the Random Forest (RF) model, calibrated by using EEG features and both intra-subject and cross-task approaches. The Neurometric was also compared with a measure based on skin conductance level (SCL), representing one of the physiological parameters investigated in the literature mostly correlated with stress variations. We found that during both multitasking and realistic driving experiments, the Neurometric was able to discriminate between low and high levels of stress with an average Area Under Curve (AUC) value higher than 0.9. Furthermore, the stress Neurometric showed higher AUC and stability than both the SCL measure and the RF calibrated with a cross-task approach. In conclusion, the Neurometric proposed in this work proved to be suitable for out-of-the-lab monitoring of stress levels.

Physiological stress in response to multitasking and work interruptions: Study protocol

BACKGROUND

The biopsychological response patterns to digital stress have been sparsely investigated so far. Important potential stressors in modern working environments due to increased digitalization are multitasking and work interruptions. In this study protocol, we present a protocol for a laboratory experiment, in which we will investigate the biopsychological stress response patterns to multitasking and work interruptions.

METHODS

In total, N = 192 healthy, adult participants will be assigned to six experimental conditions in a randomized order (one single-task, three dual-task (two in parallel and one as interruption), one multitasking, and one passive control condition). Salivary alpha-amylase as well as heart rate as markers for Sympathetic Nervous System Activity, heart rate variability as measure for Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) activity, and cortisol as measure for activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis will be assessed at six time points throughout the experimental session. Furthermore, inflammatory markers (i.e., IL-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), and secretory immunoglobulin-A) will be assessed before and after the task as well as 24 hours after it (IL-6 and CRP only). Main outcomes will be the time course of these physiological stress markers. Reactivity of these measures will be compared between the experimental conditions (dual-tasking, work interruptions, and multitasking) with the control conditions (single-tasking and passive control).

DISCUSSION

With this study protocol, we present a comprehensive experiment, which will enable an extensive investigation of physiological stress-responses to multitasking and work interruptions. Our planned study will contribute to a better understanding of physiological response patterns to modern (digital) stressors. Potential risks and limitations are discussed. The findings will have important implications, especially in the context of digital health in modern working and living environments.

A meta-analysis of salivary cortisol responses in the Trier Social Stress Test to evaluate the effects of speech topics, sex, and sample size

Background

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is one of the most widely used laboratory-based psychological stress paradigms. Previous studies have shown that males have a more robust cortisol response than females in the TSST. However, the effects of sample size, speech topic, and interaction between sex and speech topic on cortisol responses in TSST remain elusive. Our goal was to evaluate these influencing factors in the TSST using salivary cortisol reactivity as an objective measure.

Methods

We collected TSST research articles in Web of Science, PubMed, PsycNet, and CNKI. We only included TSST studies that had measures of salivary cortisol both before and after task completion. A total of 65 articles involving 76 sub-studies met our inclusion criteria, with a total of 5171 participants (2040 females and 3131 males). The effects of sample sizes were assessed to determine if results of studies with various sample sizes were stable. We performed multivariate meta-regression to determine the effects of speech topic, sex, and the interaction between sex and speech topic after controlling their confounding effects. Subgroup analysis of sex was conducted to detect inter-group differences. We further evaluated the baseline and peak salivary cortisol concentrations for males and females independently to detect the sources of sex differences.

Results

The average effect size (i.e., Cohen's d) of salivary cortisol reactivity was 0.93, 95% CI = 0.82 to 1.04, p < .001. The small studies produced larger variations in the reported effect sizes than the large-sample studies (r = -0.24, p = .041). A sample size of 40 was necessary to provide sufficient statistical power to detect significant changes of salivary cortisol in TSST. Speech topics, sex, and sex-speech topic interaction could predict salivary cortisol responses (F(df1 = 3, df2 = 72) = 11.98, p < .001) and explained 42.68% of the total experimental variation. Sex was the only significant contributing factor (p < .00025) in the regression model. Salivary cortisol responses in males were significantly higher than in females (Q_B = 42.89, df = 1, p < .001). Further, significant differences between males and females were detected at baseline (t = -2.03, df = 74, p = .046) and peak (t = -4.96, df = 74, p < .001).

Conclusions

The TSST effectively induces stress response as measured by salivary cortisol change. Forty samples is the minimum sample size for detecting the robust salivary cortisol responses. We confirmed that males have more robust salivary cortisol reactivity than females in TSST. Speech topics that we tested did not significantly contribute to differences in salivary cortisol responses. No significant interaction between sex and speech topic on salivary cortisol responses was detected.

•

Forty samples is the minimum for detecting robust salivary cortisol responses.

•

The speech topics tested did not significantly alter salivary cortisol responses.

•

Males have higher salivary cortisol responses than females in the TSST.

•

Males had higher salivary cortisol levels than females in the TSST at both baseline and peak.

From Wellbeing to Social Media and Back: A Multi-Method Approach to Assessing the Bi-Directional Relationship Between Wellbeing and Social Media Use

Literature concerning the relationship between social media use and wellbeing is inconsistent in its findings, and most research has focused on time spent on social media rather than on what emerging adults do there, with whom and why. Here, we investigated whether momentary social stress affects emerging adults’ social media use, and whether this social media use relates to subsequent changes in wellbeing. We implemented a multi-method paradigm utilising objective and self-report data to investigate how social stress relates to how (much) and why emerging adults use social media. We report on findings based on 114 17–25-year-old emerging adults recruited on university campus. Our findings suggest that social stress does not affect adolescents’ subsequent social media use and that there is no relationship between social media use after stress and changes in momentary wellbeing. Our work illustrates the need for detailed approaches in social media and psychological wellbeing research.

Differences in acute stress responses depending on first or second language in a Hispanic-American sample

Using a second language is a daily experience for many people today, among them many migrants. To determine whether speaking a second language induces a stronger cortisol or alpha-amylase (sAA) response than first language, we tested a Hispanic-American sample in two Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) conditions: First (Spanish) and second (German) language. Thirty-two participants (64.5% female) between the age of 19 and 53 years (mean = 30.68) from Latin America were tested (15 in Spanish, 17 in German). Participants were randomized to a German or Spanish version of the TSST, gave six saliva samples and completed questionnaires on perceived threat and stress, positive and negative affect as well as state-anxiety. A significantly higher stress response was found in the German condition for salivary cortisol, but not for sAA. Self-report showed significantly higher perceived threat and negative affect after the TSST for the German compared to the first language condition. Speaking a second compared to first language in a challenging situation appeared to be more stressful and threatening for participants. Further, reported increases in state-anxiety appeared to be higher in the German condition, even though group differences did not reach significance. A more detailed investigation of underlying, stress inducing mechanisms should be considered in future studies as well as associations with language proficiency and improvements over time.

Social Acts and Anticipation of Social Feedback

Socialization happens so regularly in humans that it can be perceived as an effortless activity. However, it reflects a sophisticated behavior, pervaded by anticipation and emotion. The fast-paced social interplay, strongly mediated by facial expressions, can be considered one of the most frequent high-order motor acts within the human behavioral repertoire. The ability to adequately process social feedback is critical for appropriate socialization and affects well-being. The social difficulties often observed in psychiatric patients highlight the link between mental health and successful socialization and the importance of characterizing the behavioral and neural mechanisms of social interaction. This chapter will present some cross-species evidence on the cortical regions engaged during social interactions including facial expressions, and the impact of induced or perceived social stress on the experience of social interactions.

Negative self-evaluation induced by acute stress indexed using facial EMG

Maladaptive stress responses are a key feature of several psychiatric disorders, but findings of stress effects on social behavior are inconsistent. Using a within-subject design, we investigated, in 35 healthy participants, the effects of acute stress on psychophysiological and behavioral responses during a simulated online social interaction task. Participants were exposed to established stress and non-stress exposure procedures in two separate sessions. During the task, participants liked or disliked pictures of other putative players and, similarly, saw their own picture being judged by others. After stress exposure, corrugator muscle activity (frowning) was significantly increased when participants saw their own picture while anticipating feedback from others. Consistently, zygomatic muscle activity (smiling) for self-evaluation was lower after stress than in the non-stress session. We found self-report of stress to be a significant predictor of corrugator activity in both sessions, indicating that higher levels of subjective stress overall were accompanied by increased negative self-evaluation. Surprisingly, no stress effects were found on behavioral measures of other-evaluation (i.e., percentage of dislikes to others), but corrugator response significantly predicted the percentage of dislikes during the stress session only. Overall, our findings suggest that stress increases negative self-evaluation as indexed by elevated corrugator activity. Furthermore, stress might sharpen the consistency between corrugator activity and negative evaluation of others. Our results indicate that negative self-evaluation might be a useful therapeutic target in patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders. In this context, facial muscle activity may be an adequate biomarker for identifying stress-related differences in self-evaluation.

Understanding how stress responses and stress-related behaviors have evolved in zebrafish and mammals

Stress response is essential for the organism to quickly restore physiological homeostasis disturbed by various environmental insults. In addition to well-established physiological cascades, stress also evokes various brain and behavioral responses. Aquatic animal models, including the zebrafish (Danio rerio), have been extensively used to probe pathobiological mechanisms of stress and stress-related brain disorders. Here, we critically discuss the use of zebrafish models for studying mechanisms of stress and modeling its disorders experimentally, with a particular cross-taxon focus on the potential evolution of stress responses from zebrafish to rodents and humans, as well as its translational implications.

Psychophysiological responses to potentially annoying heating, ventilation, and air conditioning noise during mentally demanding work

Exposure to noise-or unwanted sound-is considered a major public health issue in the United States and internationally. Previous work has shown that even acute noise exposure can influence physiological response in humans and that individuals differ markedly in their susceptibility to noise. Recent research also suggests that specific acoustic properties of noise may have distinct effects on human physiological response. Much of the existing research on physiological response to noise consists of laboratory studies using very simple acoustic stimuli-like white noise or tone bursts-or field studies of longer-term workplace noise exposure that may neglect acoustic properties of the noise entirely. By using laboratory exposure to realistic heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) noise, the current study explores the interaction between acoustic properties of annoying noise and individual response to working in occupational noise. This study assessed autonomic response to two acoustically distinct noises while participants performed cognitively demanding work. Results showed that the two HVAC noises affected physiological arousal in different ways. Individual differences in physiological response to noise as a function of noise sensitivity were also observed. Further research is necessary to link specific acoustic characteristics with differential physiological responses in humans.

Self-beneficial belief updating as a coping mechanism for stress-induced negative affect

Being confronted with social-evaluative stress elicits a physiological and a psychological stress response. This calls for regulatory processes to manage negative affect and maintain self-related optimistic beliefs. The aim of the current study was to investigate the affect-regulating potential of self-related updating of ability beliefs after exposure to social-evaluative stress, in comparison to non-social physical stress or no stress. We assessed self-related belief updating using trial-by-trial performance feedback and described the updating behavior in a mechanistic way using computational modeling. We found that social-evaluative stress was accompanied by an increase in cortisol and negative affect which was related to a positive shift in self-related belief updating. This self-beneficial belief updating, which was absent after physical stress or control, was associated with a better recovery from stress-induced negative affect. This indicates that enhanced integration of positive self-related feedback can act as a coping strategy to deal with social-evaluative stress.