title: Cardiovascular and cortisol reactivity and habituation to a virtual reality version of the Trier Social Stress Test: a pilot study.
abstract: The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is a widely used protocol to induce stress in laboratory settings. Briefly, in the TSST, the test participant is asked to hold a speech and to do an arithmetic task in front of an audience. In the present pilot study, we examined endocrine and autonomic reactivity and habituation to repeated stress provocations using a virtual reality (VR) version of TSST. The VR system was a CAVE™ system with three rear projected walls (4 m×3 m), and one floor projection. The system also included a head tracking system and passive stereoscopy. The virtual audience consisted of one woman, and two men. Ten healthy men, mean age 28.3 years (24-38 years), were confronted with the test twice (1 week between sessions), during which salivary cortisol, heart rate (HR), high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV, parasympathetic activity), and T-wave amplitude (TWA, suggested to be related to sympathetic influence on myocardial performance) were assessed. Cortisol secretion showed a marked increase (88% vs. baseline) during the first stress provocation, but habituated in the second session. The magnitude of HR and TWA reactivity during stress provocation was approximately the same at both sessions, implying a stable increase in sympathetic activity. Heart rate showed a maximum increase of 40% at the first session, and 32% at the second. TWA showed a maximum decrease of 42% at the first session, and 39% at the second. The results resemble those obtained in prior studies using the real-life TSST. If these results can be replicated with larger samples, VR technology may be used as a simple and standardized tool for social stress induction in experimental settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Occupational Health and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Peter_2.Jonsson@med.lu.se
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.forename: Mattias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wallergård
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Osterberg
authors.forename: Ase Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karlson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012107:Research Design; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone