The Montreal Imaging Stress Task: using functional imaging to investigate the effects of perceiving and processing psychosocial stress in the human brain.

By Katarina Dedovic, R. Renwick, N. Mahani, V. Engert, Sonia J. Lupien, Jens C. Pruessner. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 2005

697 citations recorded by the source corpus.

OBJECTIVE We developed a protocol for inducing moderate psychologic stress in a functional imaging setting and evaluated the effects of stress on physiology and brain activation. METHODS The Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), derived from the Trier Mental Challenge Test, consists of a series of computerized mental arithmetic challenges, along with social evaluative threat components that are built into the program or presented by the investigator. To allow the effects of stress and mental arithmetic to be investigated separately, the MIST has 3 test conditions (rest, control and experimental), which can be presented in either a block or an event-related design, for use with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or positron emission tomography (PET). In the rest condition, subjects look at a static computer screen on which no tasks are shown. In the control condition, a series of mental arithmetic tasks are displayed on the computer screen, and subjects submit their answers by means of a response interface. In the experimental condition, the difficulty and time limit of the tasks are manipulated to be just beyond the individual's mental capacity. In addition, in this condition the presentation of the mental arithmetic tasks is supplemented by a display of information on individual and average performance, as well as expected performance. Upon completion of each task, the program presents a performance evaluation to further increase the social evaluative threat of the situation. RESULTS In 2 independent studies using PET and a third independent study using fMRI, with a total of 42 subjects, levels of salivary free cortisol for the whole group were significantly increased under the experimental condition, relative to the control and rest conditions. Performing mental arithmetic was linked to activation of motor and visual association cortices, as well as brain structures involved in the performance of these tasks (e.g., the angular gyrus). CONCLUSIONS We propose the MIST as a tool for investigating the effects of perceiving and processing psychosocial stress in functional imaging studies.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience

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Citations in the corpus

Activity-Aware Mental Stress Detection Using Physiological Sensors (2010, methodology): “The mental arithmetic is based on the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), consisting of two levels of diﬃculty under time pressure [7].”
Monitoring stress with a wrist device using context (2017, methodology): “For collecting the laboratory data we used a standardized stress-inducing experiment [31].”
Towards an automatic early stress recognition system for office environments based on multimodal measurements: A review (2016, methodology): “28 men were stressed using the MIST [102] and it has been verified that the amount of fast movement increases during stress tests compared to control tests, and that the spectra of the CoP obtained in the two tests also show differences.”
Review on Psychological Stress Detection Using Biosignals (2019, methodology): “TABLE 7: OVERVIEW OF STRESS DETECTION STUDIES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, THEIR DETAILS AND BEST ACCURACY ACHIEVED Study Popula- tion (subjects) Women/ Men Age Stimuli Biosignals used Classifica- tion sys- tem Best Accu- racy achieved Womack and Hansen (1996) [230] 11 subjects men 22-76 simulated/actual”
The brain and the stress axis: The neural correlates of cortisol regulation in response to stress (2009, background): “Helmer, ”Limbic system mechanisms of stress regulation: hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis”, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, vol. 29, no. 8, pp. 1201-1213, 2005.”
Acute psychosocial stress: does the emotional stress response correspond with physiological responses? (2012, neutral): “…speaking) with completely different stress induction tasks or entirely different stressors (N = 103), such as the Montreal Imaging Stress Test (Dedovic et al., 2005), the Stroop Color and Word Test (Golden, 1978), the Cold Pressor Test (Hines and Brown, 1936), the Paced Auditory Serial…”
Psychobiological Mechanisms Underlying the Social Buffering of the HPA Axis: A Review of Animal Models and Human Studies across Development (2013, methodology): “…context with measurement of GCs, even though we now have stress tasks appropriate for this environment (e.g., the Montreal Neuroimaging Stress Test; Dedovic et al., 2005), and there is the possibility of text messaging and vocal or physical support provided by a partner while in the scanner.”
Brain mediators of cardiovascular responses to social threat, Part I: Reciprocal dorsal and ventral sub-regions of the medial prefrontal cortex and heart-rate reactivity (2009, result): “The lack of amygdala activation is consistent with other studies of performance stressors, some of which have produced reliable decreases in the amygdala and hippocampus in both PET and fMRI (Dedovic et al., 2005; Pruessner et al., 2008).”
Multimodal assessment of acute stress dynamics using an aversive video paradigm (AVP) (2024, unknown): “Reliable methods for stress induction are essential for studying stress in a controlled laboratory setting.”