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Trier social stress test and food-choice: Behavioral, self-report & hormonal data.

ABSTRACT: A sample of 144 participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a psychosocial stress manipulation involving a mock interview and a mental arithmetic task, or a matched control procedure. Physiological stress was estimated via a collection of 7 saliva samples over the course of the experiment analysed for cortisol and alpha-amylase, as well as via the mean heart-rate measured before and during the experimental manipulation. Subjective stress was assessed via the Positive and Negative Affect Scale as well as four Visual Analogue Scales at 6 points over the time course of the experiment. Participants solved an incentive-compatible food-choice task before, immediately after and in the aftermath of the experimental manipulation. In each trial of the food-choice task, participants had to choose one out of a set of two to seven snack bundles. Each snack bundle consisted of specific amounts of a sweet or salty snack and a fruit or vegetable. The snacks for both categories were selected to be similarly attractive according to the previously provided online ratings of the participants. The design of the food-choice task allows for the calculation of revealed preference consistency indices. The dataset further contains several self-report questionnaires administered to the participants before the experimental session, including the Trier Inventory of Chronic Stress.

SUBMITTER: Nitsch FJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8255170 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Trier social stress test and food-choice: Behavioral, self-report & hormonal data.

Nitsch Felix Jan FJ Sellitto Manuela M Kalenscher Tobias T

Data in brief 20210625

A sample of 144 participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a psychosocial stress manipulation involving a mock interview and a mental arithmetic task, or a matched control procedure. Physiological stress was estimated via a collection of 7 saliva samples over the course of the experiment analysed for cortisol and alpha-amylase, as well as via the mean heart-rate measured before and during the experimental manipulation. Subjective stress was assessed via the Positive and Negative ...[more]

PMID: 34258339

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Project description:Sympathetic responsiveness to laboratory mental stress is highly variable, making interpretations of its role in stress reactivity challenging. The present study assessed muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA, microneurography) responsiveness to the Trier social stress test (TSST), which employs an anticipatory stress phase, followed by a public speaking and mental arithmetic task. We hypothesized that sympathetic reactivity to the anticipatory phase would offer a more uniform response between individuals due to elimination of confounds (i.e. respiratory changes, muscle movement, etc.) observed during more common stress tasks. Participants included 26 healthy adults (11 men, 15 women, age: 25 ± 6 years, body mass index: 24 ± 3 kg/m2 ). Continuous heart rate (electrocardiogram) and beat-to-beat blood pressure (finger plethysmography) were recorded from all participants, while MSNA recordings were obtained in 20 participants. MSNA burst frequency was significantly reduced during anticipatory stress. During the speech, although burst frequency was unchanged, total MSNA was significantly increased. Changes in diastolic arterial pressure were predictive of changes in MSNA during anticipatory (β = -0.680, P = 0.001), but not the speech (P = 0.318) or mental maths (P = 0.051) phases. Lastly, sympathetic reactivity to anticipatory stress was predictive of subsequent reactivity to both speech (β = 0.740, P = 0.0002) and maths (β = 0.663, P = 0.001). In conclusion, anticipatory social stress may offer a more versatile means of assessing sympathetic reactivity to mental stress in the absence of confounds and appears to predict reactivity to subsequent mental stress paradigms. KEY POINTS: Cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory mental stress is predictive of future health outcomes. However, reactivity of the sympathetic nervous system to mental stress is highly variable. The current study assessed peripheral muscle sympathetic nerve activity in response to the Trier social stress test, a psychosocial stressor that includes anticipatory stress, public speaking and mental arithmetic. Our findings demonstrate that sympathetic neural activity is consistently reduced during anticipatory stress. Conversely, the classically observed inter-individual variability of sympathetic responsiveness was observed during speech and maths tasks. Additionally, sympathetic reactivity to the anticipatory period accurately predicted how an individual would respond to both speech and maths tasks, outlining the utility of anticipatory stress in future research surrounding stress reactivity. Utilization of the Trier social stress test in autonomic physiology may offer an alternative assessment of sympathetic responsiveness to stress with more consistent inter-individual responsiveness and may be a useful tool for further investigation of stress reactivity.

Project description:BackgroundThe Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is a widely used laboratory protocol to study acute stress reactivity, a hallmark of which is a meaningful increase in saliva cortisol (>2.5 nmol/L) in most individuals, reflecting hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation. The Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test (MMST) has potential as a low staff burden alternative to the TSST, with one study showing statistically significant increases in subjective stress, heart rate and saliva cortisol; however, uncertainty remains about the meaningfulness of these psychobiological responses.ObjectiveTo assess whether the MMST is a viable alternative to the TSST.MethodsUsing a between subjects design, 31 healthy adults were randomised to the standard TSST or the MMST using stratified block randomisation accounting for sex and trait anxiety. The standard TSST consisted of an anticipation phase, followed by a free speech and mental arithmetic task performed in front of a panel of trained actors. The MMST consisted of a computer based Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (cognitive stressor) with additional motivational, emotional and acoustic stressors in the presence of one unresponsive observer.ResultsGroup × time interactions showed that the MMST induced smaller psychobiological responses compared with the TSST (mixed model ANCOVA, P < 0.05). Post-hoc analyses revealed that the MMST induced a significant yet smaller state anxiety response (score range 20-80, MMST: 47 ± 12 vs. TSST: 57 ± 9; P < 0.01, Cohens d = 0.9) and peak heart rate response (MMST: 98 ± 17 vs. TSST: 110 ± 21 bpm; P < 0.05, Cohens d = 0.6) compared with the TSST. Despite observing stereotypical neuroendocrine responses to the TSST, the MMST did not increase saliva α-amylase or cortisol (Δ saliva cortisol, 0.1 ± 1.1 vs. TSST: 10.3 ± 12.8 nmol/L; between group difference P < 0.01, Cohens d = 1.1). Moreover, meaningful increases in saliva cortisol (>2.5 nmol/L) were observed in 80% of participants after the TSST but in no participant after the MMST.ConclusionThe Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test increased state anxiety and heart rate but not saliva cortisol. As such, the present results do not support the utility of the Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test as a viable alternative to The Trier Social Stress Test.

Dataset Information

Trier social stress test and food-choice: Behavioral, self-report & hormonal data.

Publications

Trier social stress test and food-choice: Behavioral, self-report & hormonal data.

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