Schedule of Events | Symposia

Lower perceived stress enhances neural synchrony to naturalistic stimuli in attention and emotion regions

Poster Session D - Monday, March 31, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Joshua Craig¹ (joshua.craig@uleth.ca), Keva Klamer¹, Christina Haines¹, KiAnna Sullivan¹, Peter Seres², Chelsea Ekstrand¹; ¹University of Lethbridge, ²University of Alberta

Previous research highlights the widespread impact of stress on brain regions involved in attention and emotional processing, including the superior parietal lobule, prefrontal cortex, insula, and superior temporal gyrus (Gu et al., 2018; Liston et al., 2009). Traditional methods for studying the neural correlates of stress often rely on simplified stress-induction techniques that overlook the complexity of real-world challenges. In this study, we aimed to examine how perceived stress modulates neural synchrony in response to naturalistic stimuli. To investigate this, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment using audiovisual films. Each participant viewed three distinct films during fMRI: a high-arousal negative valence film, a high-arousal positive valence film, and a low-arousal neutral valence film. Using a median split of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983) scores, we categorized participants into low- and high-perceived stress groups. We then assessed differences in inter-subject correlations between these groups using linear mixed-effects modeling. Results revealed that, across all three films, individuals with lower perceived stress exhibited greater neural synchrony than those with higher perceived stress in regions associated with attention and emotion regulation, including the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, and superior parietal lobule. These findings suggest that individuals with lower stress levels process dynamic, real-world stimuli more consistently across participants, regardless of the emotional valence of the film. This study provides valuable insights into how perceived stress shapes neural processing, offering a more ecologically valid understanding of the impact of stress on the brain and emotional regulation.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotion-cognition interactions