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Stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible

Appropriate decision-making relies on the ability to shift between different behavioral strategies according to the context in which decisions are made. A cohort of subjects exposed to prolonged stress, and respective gender- and age-matched controls, performed an instrumental behavioral task to ass...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Soares, J M, Sampaio, A, Ferreira, L M, Santos, N C, Marques, F, Palha, J A, Cerqueira, J J, Sousa, N
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410630/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22760555
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2012.59
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author Soares, J M
Sampaio, A
Ferreira, L M
Santos, N C
Marques, F
Palha, J A
Cerqueira, J J
Sousa, N
author_facet Soares, J M
Sampaio, A
Ferreira, L M
Santos, N C
Marques, F
Palha, J A
Cerqueira, J J
Sousa, N
author_sort Soares, J M
collection PubMed
description Appropriate decision-making relies on the ability to shift between different behavioral strategies according to the context in which decisions are made. A cohort of subjects exposed to prolonged stress, and respective gender- and age-matched controls, performed an instrumental behavioral task to assess their decision-making strategies. The stressed cohort was reevaluated after a 6-week stress-free period. The behavioral analysis was complemented by a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to detect the patterns of activation in corticostriatal networks ruling goal-directed and habitual actions. Using structural MRI, the volumes of the main cortical and subcortical regions implicated in instrumental behavior were determined. Here we show that chronic stress biases decision-making strategies in humans toward habits, as choices of stressed subjects become insensitive to changes in outcome value. Using functional imaging techniques, we demonstrate that prolonged exposure to stress in humans causes an imbalanced activation of the networks that govern decision processes, shifting activation from the associative to the sensorimotor circuits. These functional changes are paralleled by atrophy of the medial prefrontal cortex and the caudate, and by an increase in the volume of the putamina. Importantly, a longitudinal assessment of the stressed individuals showed that both the structural and functional changes triggered by stress are reversible and that decisions become again goal-directed.
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spelling pubmed-34106302012-08-02 Stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible Soares, J M Sampaio, A Ferreira, L M Santos, N C Marques, F Palha, J A Cerqueira, J J Sousa, N Transl Psychiatry Original Article Appropriate decision-making relies on the ability to shift between different behavioral strategies according to the context in which decisions are made. A cohort of subjects exposed to prolonged stress, and respective gender- and age-matched controls, performed an instrumental behavioral task to assess their decision-making strategies. The stressed cohort was reevaluated after a 6-week stress-free period. The behavioral analysis was complemented by a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to detect the patterns of activation in corticostriatal networks ruling goal-directed and habitual actions. Using structural MRI, the volumes of the main cortical and subcortical regions implicated in instrumental behavior were determined. Here we show that chronic stress biases decision-making strategies in humans toward habits, as choices of stressed subjects become insensitive to changes in outcome value. Using functional imaging techniques, we demonstrate that prolonged exposure to stress in humans causes an imbalanced activation of the networks that govern decision processes, shifting activation from the associative to the sensorimotor circuits. These functional changes are paralleled by atrophy of the medial prefrontal cortex and the caudate, and by an increase in the volume of the putamina. Importantly, a longitudinal assessment of the stressed individuals showed that both the structural and functional changes triggered by stress are reversible and that decisions become again goal-directed. Nature Publishing Group 2012-07 2012-07-03 /pmc/articles/PMC3410630/ /pubmed/22760555 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2012.59 Text en Copyright © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
spellingShingle Original Article
Soares, J M
Sampaio, A
Ferreira, L M
Santos, N C
Marques, F
Palha, J A
Cerqueira, J J
Sousa, N
Stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible
title Stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible
title_full Stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible
title_fullStr Stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible
title_full_unstemmed Stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible
title_short Stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible
title_sort stress-induced changes in human decision-making are reversible
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410630/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22760555
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2012.59
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