The effects of suppressing the biological stress systems on social threat-assessment following acute stress.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Stress is associated with increased sensitivity to threat. Previous investigations examining how stress affects threat processing have largely focused on biomarker responses associated with either the sympathetic-nervous-system (SNS) or the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

Objectives

We pharmacologically suppressed activations of SNS, HPA, or both, prior to stress and investigated how each stress system modulates social threat assessment.

Methods

One hundred sixty-one healthy men and women were randomized in a between-subject design, to one of four pharmacological or placebo conditions: dexamethasone-placebo, placebo-propranolol, dexamethasone-propranolol, or placebo-placebo. Participants provided threat assessments for angry and neutral human face

SUBMITTER: Ali N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7525279 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature