Effects of the psychophysiological stress response in human behaviour
摘要截稿:
全文截稿: 2019-06-30
影响因子: 2.826
期刊难度:
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Overview
According to Hans Selye, physical or mental imbalance caused by harmful stimuli can induce stress to maintain homeostasis. However, a growing body of evidence from research on stress such as psychoneuroimmunology support the reciprocal connections between our biology and behavior. Chronic stress hyperactivate the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical axis, releasing stress hormones, which, on the long term may impair human behaviour and performance. Unfortunately, nowadays there is no accepted standard for stress evaluation.
This Special Issue aims to integrate studies using existing stress measurement methods, both, psychological questionnaires and biological markers such as cortisol, amylase or heart rate variability to explore stress effects on different levels of human behaviour and performance. In particular, we will provide a rationale of the importance to ass the psychophysiological stress response in the following areas:
Effects of the psychophysiological stress response on the brain, cognitive functioningand health
The stress response includes the release of glucocorticoids and catecholamines, which in turn, provide feedback to the brain, structurally and functionally modifying areas involved in the of control emotion and cognition. Severe and/or prolonged stress can enhance amygdala dependent fear-conditioning or impair hippocampal dependent explicit learning or prefrontal cortex dependent executive functions. Furthermore, the effect of stress hormones in the brain may account for the impact of the stress response on the of the immune system function. In sum, examine the effects of the stress response on the brain is crucial, because emotional and cognitive regulations are required for adaptive human behaviour and health in complex contexts.
Moreover, the psychophysiological stress response has long been considered a valuable heuristic to help better understand how psychosocial factors “get under the skin” and turn into disease. Recent research has shown that exposure to chronic psychological distress increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, and even dementia. Currently, three of the biggest burdens of disease in world. Elucidate how psychological stressors and sympathetic, parasympathetic and hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical axis changes operate together continues as one of the hot topics in the field.
Effects of the psychophysiological stress response on professional performance and under extreme conditions
A large number of professionals are exposed by highly stressful conditions, including elite athletes, soldiers and police force, firefighters, or healthcare professionals (Bridgeman et al., 2018), among others. Psychophysiological stress response is expected to have a direct and potentially pervasive impact over their professional performance. Therefore, a better evaluation and understanding of the nature, extent and mechanisms involved are needed in order to develop more effective interventions.
A particular case of professionals are those selected individuals who are able to perform under extreme physical and psychological conditions (pressure, heat, dehydration, altitude…life-threatening situations), where the human body is taken to its very limits. Stress is the primal phylogenetic defence response, which undoubtedly will impact their behaviour. However, access to this population, and the evaluation under those conditions remains a challenge. A better understand of the effects of stress under these situations will improve our understanding of human behaviour and its limits.
Potential list of topics
Effects of the psychophysiological stress response on the brain, cognitive functioning and health.
Effects of the psychophysiological stress response on professional performance and under extreme conditions