NCT06066320

A Comparison of Acute Psychobiological Responses to Laboratory Stress Tests

A Comparison of Acute Psychobiological Responses to the Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test and the Trier Social Stress Test

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 31 (actual)
• Sponsor: Liverpool John Moores University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 35 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test (MMST) is a validated laboratory stress test that combines cognitive, emotional, acoustic and motivational stress components. However the utility of the MMST as a viable alternative to the more commonly used Trier social stress test (TSST) to elicit HPA reactivity remains unclear as meaningful increases in saliva cortisol (\> 2.5 nmol/l) have been shown to occur in \<50% of participants yet the TSST typically elicits meaningful increases in saliva cortisol in \>70% of participants; likely as a consequence of the greater social evaluative component in the TSST. Using a randomised between groups design, this study aims to compare psychobiological responses to the MMST and TSST.

Conditions

• Stress, Physiological
• Stress, Psychological

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	MMST	Participants randomised to the MMST group will complete the computer based paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT-C) in the presence of one observer and is informed that incorrect answers result in reduced monetary compensation. Simultaneously, the participant is exposed to emotionally evocative images and white noise via headphones
BEHAVIORAL	TSST	Participants randomly assigned to the TSST condition will be exposed to a traditional TSST protocol. The TSST consists of a preparation phase (5 min), followed by a mock job interview and a mental arithmetic task (5 min each) in front of a panel consisting of two observers and a video recording device.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-04-26
• Primary completion: 2023-07-14
• Completion: 2023-10-09
• First posted: 2023-10-04
• Last updated: 2023-10-25

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom