A Comparison of Acute Psychobiological Responses to Laboratory Stress Tests

The Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test (MMST) is a validated laboratory stress test that combines cognitive, emotional, acoustic and motivational stress components. However the utility of the MMST as a viable alternative to the more commonly used Trier social stress test (TSST) to elicit HPA reactivity remains unclear as meaningful increases in saliva cortisol (\> 2.5 nmol/l) have been shown to occur in \70% of participants; likely as a consequence of the greater social evaluative component in the TSST. Using a randomised between groups design, this study aims to compare psychobiological responses to the MMST and TSST.