title: What stress does to your brain: a review of neuroimaging studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent neuroimaging studies aimed at investigating effects of psychological stress on the neural activity have used a range of experimental paradigms to elicit an acute stress response. The goal of this review is to, first, summarize results from these studies from a perspective of task design and, second, assess the appropriateness of the different stress tasks used.
  
  
  METHODS
  We completed a PubMed search on recent articles that have examined the effects of psychological stress on neural processes in a neuroimaging environment. Selected articles were arranged according to the stress task used in the following categories: script-driven stress stimuli, Stroop colour-word interference task, speech in front of an audience, serial subtraction, and Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only studies using serial subtraction or the MIST were able to induce a significant cortisol stress response in their participants. Most consistent findings include decreased activity in orbitofrontal regions in response to stress. Additional findings of note are increases in activity in the frontal lobes, particularly the anterior cingulate cortex, as well as deactivation of the limbic system, particularly the hippocampus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Research to date is beginning to outline the involvement of prefrontal and limbic regions in perception and modulation of psychological stress. However, additional research is needed in designing a neuroimaging stress task that will yield a significant cortisol stress response consistently, across populations and laboratories.
authors.affiliation: Student, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, Quebec.
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dedovic
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: D'Aguiar
authors.forename: Jens C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Pruessner
mesh_terms: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008032:Limbic System / Q000503:physiopathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone