Stress, its impact on health and well-being, its biobehavioral effects, and its relationship with behavioral and cognitive variables have been topics of great interest for researchers in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and health sciences in general.
In order to deeply study the nature of stress and its correlates, it has been necessary to design procedures that allow its induction, controlling variables such as intensity, duration, type of stressor, and other possible mediating and moderating variables that may affect the results of the studies - all this within an ethical framework that covers both research with human and non-human subjects. Especially, research with human beings requires the design of non-invasive procedures, with particular caution to avoid long-term negative effects, which becomes a challenge considering the need to create protocols for stress induction that generate a sufficient level of stress for research purposes that, at the same time, meet all the necessary ethical standards.
Previously, various protocols for stress induction have been validated, which allows the development of experimental studies, which has resulted in a more precise understanding of the characteristics of stress, the associated mechanisms, and its effects at different levels.
This Article Collection aims to compile research in the area regarding reviewing procedures, establishing challenges, and generating ethical reflections around experimental stress induction. Original research articles, review articles, and commentaries from all relevant fields of stress induction will be welcome. Several subjects will be addressed in this Collection, including those related to differential effects of stressors according to their type and modality, the use of emerging technologies for stress induction, methodological and theoretical challenges for stress induction, comparisons of procedures for stress induction, and ethical considerations about this subject.
Sandra Ortega Ferreira is the Undergraduate Program Director of Psychology at Universidad Ean – Colombia. She is the former director of the environments for learning research group, as well as the former director of the graduate program in social responsibility management and shared value, also at Universidad Ean. She holds a post-graduate degree in Psychology and studied the effects of stress on learning in experimental models. She is a psychologist with broad knowledge about experimental analyses of behavior, research methodology, behavioral neurophysiology, educational psychology, and pedagogy in virtual education.
Disclosure Statement: The Guest Advisor has no conflicts of interest to disclose regarding this work.
