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Researchers investigate which stress tests cause similar brain activation patterns

 


Scientists use many different tests to investigate what is happening in the brains of people who are experiencing stress. It is unclear to what extent the different ways subjects are placed under stress can be compared to each other. In a meta-analysis, Ruhr-Universität Bochum’s biopsychology team compared 31 previous studies investigating stress using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

The team elucidated which areas of the brain were activated as standard during stress and which stress tests caused similar activation patterns.They explain the results to the journal Neuroscience and bioethological reviews, Published online on February 5, 2021.

Gesa Berretz, Dr. of the Faculty of Biological Psychology to do the work. Julian Packheiser and Prof. Sebastian Ocklenburg collaborated with Professor Robert Kumsta of Genetic Psychology and Professor Oliver Wolf of Cognitive Psychology.

Compare activation patterns from 31 studies

“We know that stress affects the entire information pathway, such as attention, working memory, and long-term memory,” says Gesa Beres. “But so far there has been no consensus on how these different situations provoke the same stress and what happens in the brain.”

Many researchers have clarified this question and are trying to use a variety of methods to induce stress on research participants. While doing this, they use fMRI to measure the subject’s brain activity. The activation pattern is shown in the form of coordinates in three-dimensional space that represent the areas of the brain that were active during the stress test.

The Bochum-based team evaluated 31 studies using what is known as activation likelihood estimation analysis. During this time, researchers compared the coordinates of activation patterns from all studies and statistically checked how similar the patterns were. Data from 1279 subjects were included. As a result, no matter which stress test was applied, various areas of the brain such as islands, claustrum, lenticular nucleus, and inferior frontal gyrus were constantly activated. “These areas of the brain appear to play a central role in stress,” summarizes Gesa Berretz.

Potential role of areas of the brain in stress

The island is, among other things, associated with pain perception, self-awareness, and social perception, integrating sensations with internal emotional information. It is also involved in the control of hormonal stress responses. Claustrum is also responsible for integrating various information and is important for consciousness. According to researchers, activation of these areas indicates that research participants are paying attention to emotional processes when under stress.

The inferior frontal gyrus is responsible for semantic and phonological processing and working memory. “Probably because many methods involve demanding cognitive tasks, activation occurs,” the authors speculate.

The lenticular nucleus is associated with motion and coordination. Its role in the context of stress is unknown. “We speculate that acute stress leads to increased muscle tension in general and preparation for the fight-or-flight response,” explains Gesa Beres.

Two stress tests appear as outliers

The analysis also found that the method used achieved nearly consistent results and therefore appeared to be very suitable for stress investigations. Only two methods, called cyberball and aversive viewing, represent the exception. In the first method, subjects were socially excluded during virtual ball games. The brain activity patterns caused by this stress test showed less overlap with activation patterns from other methods.

During a disgusting viewing, the subject watches an unstable movie scene with violent content, but under controlled conditions it displays neutral movie material. In some experiments, including this method, the meta-analysis found no difference between stress and control conditions. As a result, researchers say that special care should be taken when interpreting studies that use these methods.

Source:

Journal reference:

Berretz, G. , et al. (2021) Stressed Brain-A systematic review of changes in the BOLD signal associated with acute stress exposure and an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Neuroscience and bioethological reviews. doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.01.001..

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