Differential increase of hippocampal subfield volume after socio-affective mental training relates to reductions in diurnal cortisol.

The hippocampus is a central modulator of the HPA-axis, impacting the regulation of stress on brain structure, function, and behavior. The current study assessed whether three different types of 3 months mental Training Modules geared towards nurturing (a) attention-based mindfulness, (b) socio-affective, or (c) socio-cognitive skills may impact hippocampal organization by reducing stress. We evaluated mental training-induced changes in hippocampal subfield volume and intrinsic functional connectivity, by combining longitudinal structural and resting-state fMRI connectivity analysis in 332 healthy adults.

Testing the monitor and acceptance theory: the role of training-induced changes in monitoring- and acceptance-related capacities after attention-based, socio-emotional, or socio-cognitive mental training in reducing cortisol stress reactivity.

Mindfulness-based interventions have become a popular means to reduce stress. However, the specific mechanisms driving observed stress reduction remain understudied. The Monitor and Acceptance Theory suggests that the cultivation of monitoring acceptance skills are necessary moderators of practice-induced stress reduction.

Evidence for differential associations of distinct trait mindfulness facets with acute and chronic stress.

Stress and stress-associated disease are considered the health epidemic of the 21st century. Interestingly, despite experiencing similar amounts of stress than those falling ill, some individuals are protected against the "wear and tear of daily life". Based on the notion that mindfulness training strengthens stress resilience, we explored whether facets of trait mindfulness, prior to training intervention, are linked to acute psychosocial stress reactivity and chronic stress load.

Children with maltreatment exposure exhibit rumination-like spontaneous thought patterns: association with symptoms of depression, subcallosal cingulate cortex thickness, and cortisol levels.

Background: Childhood maltreatment is associated with pervasive risk for depression. However, the immediate cognitive and neural mechanisms that mediate this risk during development are unknown. We here studied the impact of maltreatment on self-generated thought (SGT) patterns and their association with depressive symptoms, subcallosal cingulate cortex (SCC) thickness, and cortisol levels in children.

Revisiting the stress recovery hypothesis: Differential associations of cortisol stress reactivity and recovery after acute psychosocial stress with markers of long-term stress and health.

Exposure to excessive and long-term stress may result in dysregulation of the stress system, including the acute stress response. In particular, failure to downregulate stress-related reactivity may lead to prolonged stress responses and the accumulation of allostatic load. However, the contribution of altered acute cortisol recovery to chronic stress and associated health impairments has often been neglected.

Open and reproducible science practices in psychoneuroendocrinology: Opportunities to foster scientific progress.

This perspective article was written by invitation of the editors in chief as a summary and extension of the symposium entitled which was held at the virtual meeting of the 2021. It highlights the opportunities presented by the application of open and reproducible scientific practices in psychoneuroendocrinology (PNE), an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of psychology, endocrinology, immunology, neurology, and psychiatry. It conveys an introduction to the topics preregistration, registered reports, quantifying the impact of equally-well justifiable analysis decisions, and open data and scripts, while emphasizing 'selfish' reasons to adopt such practices as individual researcher.

Contemplative Mental Training Reduces Hair Glucocorticoid Levels in a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of regular contemplative mental training on endocrine and psychological indices of long-term stress.

Methods: An open-label efficacy trial that comprised three distinct 3-month long modules targeting attention and interoception, socioaffective, or sociocognitive abilities through dyadic exercises and secularized meditation practices was conducted with healthy adults. Participants underwent the training for 3 or 9 months, or were assigned to a retest control cohort.

Mind-wandering content differentially translates from lab to daily life and relates to subjective stress experience.

Experience and thoughts that are unrelated to the external surroundings are pervasive features of human cognition. Research under the rubric of mind-wandering suggests that such internal experience is context-dependent, and that the content of ongoing thought differentially influences a range of associated outcomes. However, evidence on how the extent of mind-wandering and its content translate from the laboratory to daily life settings is scarce.

Embodied stress: The physiological resonance of psychosocial stress.

Psychosocial stress is a ubiquitous phenomenon in our society. While acute stress responses are necessary and adaptive, excessive activation of neurobiological stress systems can predispose an individual to far-reaching adverse health outcomes. Living in a complex social environment, experiencing stress is not limited to challenges humans face individually.

The effects of stress and affiliation on social decision-making: Investigating the tend-and-befriend pattern.

The prevalence of psychosocial stress in Western societies is constantly on the rise. Its influence on social decision-making, however, remains poorly understood. Whereas, it is known that stress triggers psychological and physiological defense mechanisms, indications of such patterns in social decisions are ambivalent.