Simple Saliva Test can Reveal Decision-making Skills

Cortisol levels in saliva are linked to a person's ability to make good decisions in stressful conditions, say researchers.

In a study, researchers at the University of Granada Group of Neuropsychology exposed the participants (all women) to a stressful situation by using sophisticated virtual reality technology.

Stress and the Gender Divide-Mars and Venus-Biology-Different Strokes
Stress has become entwined in the current lifestyle of a young working couple and has resulted in the rise in incidence of hypertension, diabetes and psychosomatic illnesses.

They found that people who are not skilled in decision-making have lower baseline cortisol levels in saliva as compared to skilled people.

Cortisol -known as the stress hormone- is a steroid hormone segregated at the adrenal cortex and stimulated by the adrenocorticotropic (ACTH) hormone, which is produced at the pituitary gland. Cortisol is involved in a number of body systems and plays a relevant role in the muscle-skeletal system, blood circulation, the immune system, the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins and the nervous system.

Recent studies have demonstrated that stress can influence decision making in people. This cognitive component might be considered one of the human resources for coping with stress.

Quiz on Stress

Introduction

Stress has become one of the major health concerns in the modern world, but it is still difficult to define. Stress is a normal physical response when faced with a challenge, and in small doses, stress can motivate us and drive us to better performance. But stress overload is typically described as a negative concept that can have an impact on a person’s mental and physical well-being ().

There are 10 questions on ‘Stress’ in this quiz that will explore the depth of your knowledge and provide answers to the following:

Symptoms of stress ()
Stress hormone ()
Complication of chronic stress ()
Phobia ()
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ()

To verify that decision-making skills might modulate human response to psychosocial stress, the University of Granada researchers evaluated the decision-making process in 40 healthy women.

Participants were asked to perform the so-called Iowa Gambling Task. Next, participants were presented a stressful situation in a virtual environment consisting on delivering a speech in front of a virtual audience. Researchers evaluated the participants' response to stress by examining the activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, and measuring cortisol levels in saliva at different points of the stressful situation.

This study provides preliminary evidence on an existing relationship between decision-making ability -which may play a major role in coping with stress- and low cortisol levels in psychosocially stressful situations, said Professors Isabel Peralta and Ana Santos.

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This means that the effects of psychological stress on the health people with lower cortisol levels might be milder.

This paper has been recently published in the prestigious journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

Source-ANI