Don’t Sweat It! Neuroimaging Studies of Stress

This chapter begins with a historical, scientific overview of one element of our daily experience: psychological stress. It discusses the underlying biological mechanisms that mediate the human stress response, especially the roles played by our endocrine system. The chapter focuses on key electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies currently used to study the stress responses in humans. Neuroimaging studies that aim to identify the neural correlates of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress response in humans are challenging for a number of reasons. For instance, identifying the specific psychological stressors capable of activating the stress system in a controlled and time-sensitive manner while in a scanning environment presents a formidable challenge. There is a strong consensus that both immediate and long-term stress activate a wide range of bodily responses. The chapter sketches a brief overview of core concepts derived from the fields of medicine and biology. It highlights the key contributions made by psychologists in our understanding of stress in humans.