Stress effects on mood, HPA axis, and autonomic response: comparison of three psychosocial stress paradigms

• Published in: PloS one 2014-12, Vol.9 (12), p.e113618
• Main Authors: Giles, Grace E, Mahoney, Caroline R, Brunyé, Tad T, Taylor, Holly A, Kanarek, Robin B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Affect - physiology; Autonomic nervous system; Biology and Life Sciences; Brain research; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive ability; Cognitive tasks; Cold pressing; Comparative analysis; Cortisol; Data collection; Decision making; Female; Gender differences; Glucocorticoids; Heart rate; Hormones; Humans; Hydrocortisone - metabolism; Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; Influence; Male; Mathematics; Memory; Memory, Short-Term; Menstruation; Mental task performance; Mood; Nervous system; Physiological aspects; Physiological effects; Physiology; Psychological aspects; Psychological stress; Psychology; Psychopharmacology; Short term memory; Social interactions; Social Sciences; Stress (Psychology); Stress response; Stress, Psychological; Studies; Young Adult; α-Amylase
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113618

Extensive experimental psychology research has attempted to parse the complex relationship between psychosocial stress, mood, cognitive performance, and physiological changes. To do so, it is necessary to have effective, validated methods to experimentally induce psychosocial stress. The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is the most commonly used method of experimentally inducing psychosocial stress, but it is resource intensive. Less resource intense psychosocial stress tasks include the Socially Evaluative Cold Pressor Task (SECPT) and a computerized mental arithmetic task (MAT). These tasks effectively produce a physiological and psychological stress response and have the benefits of requiring fewer experimenters and affording data collection from multiple participants simultaneously. The objective of this study was to compare the magnitude and duration of these three experimental psychosocial stress induction paradigms. On each of four separate days, participants completed either a control non-stressful task or one of the three experimental stressors: the TSST, SECPT, or MAT. We measured mood, working memory performance, salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase (AA), and heart rate. The TSST and SECPT exerted the most robust effects on mood and physiological measures. TSST effects were generally evident immediately post-stress as well as 10- and 20-minutes after stress cessation, whereas SECPT effects were generally limited to the duration of the stressor. The stress duration is a key determinant when planning a study that utilizes an experimental stressor, as researchers may be interested in collecting dependent measures prior to stress cessation. In this way, the TSST would allow the investigator a longer window to administer tasks of interest.