Psychoneuroendocrinology
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Aug 2009
Neuroendocrine and psychometric evaluation of a placebo version of the 'Trier Social Stress Test'.
The "Trier Social Stress Test" (TSST) is one of the most prominent laboratory stress paradigms. It is often used to investigate the effects of stress on cognitive or affective parameters. Such studies need a non-stress control condition. ⋯ However, in this study we found similar reactions between TSST- and placebo-treated participants with regard to sAA-response. We suggest that the introduced placebo protocol for the TSST is a promising tool for future psychobiological research. The exact procedure for a given experiment should be tailored to the specific needs of the empirical question studied.