The effects of stress states in the brain

The objective of this study is to assess the interaction between brain activity for cognitive and emotional processing and stress states in the healthy adults. The brain activities of thirty-three healthy adults divided into stress and non-stress groups according to their stress responses were assessed during emotional audio-visual stimuli using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results showed that a significant correlation was found between the profile of mood states (POMS) subscale scores for Fatigue and the right inferior parietal gyrus in the Relaxed stimuli (r=−0.359), and POMS subscale scores for Depression-Defection and the right inferior parietal gyrus in the Unpleasant stimuli (r=−0.371). These results suggest that the beginnings of stress states, especially the depression or fatigue states, represent deficits in the attention process.

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