Trial reportBrain and behavior2026
Acute Stress Impacts Executive-Social Function: Evidence From Prefrontal Activation and fNIRS-Based Hyperscanning.
Trial report in Brain and behavior, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Acute Stress Impacts Executive-Social Function: Evidence From Prefrontal Activation and fNIRS-Based Hyperscanning.Brain and behavior · 2026Trial
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAcute stress has complex effects on executive function and social behavior; however, the direction of these effects is inconsistent across studies, and the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study investigated the behavioral and neural effects of acute stress on executive function and dyadic cooperation and their relationships.
methodsEighty-six healthy male undergraduates (18-25 years) were randomly assigned to stress (n = 44; Trier Social Stress Test for Groups [TSST-G]) or control groups (n = 42; placebo TSST-G). The participants completed executive function tasks (3-back, Go/Nogo, Stroop, and task-switching) and cooperative button-pressing tasks pre- and postintervention, with a counterbalanced order. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was performed simultaneously.
resultsStress impaired the practice-induced improvement in 3-back accuracy observed in the control group, although it did not significantly affect other performance metrics. During the 3-back, Stroop, task-switching, and cooperative tasks, increased and decreased prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation from baseline to postintervention were observed in the stress and control groups, respectively. Furthermore, greater bilateral dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) interbrain synchronization (IBS) changes during the cooperative task were observed in the stress group. Cognitive flexibility and cooperation were positively linked both behaviorally and neurally.
conclusionsTSST-G-induced stress disrupted the learning-related enhancement of working memory; however, response inhibition, interference control, cognitive flexibility, and cooperative performance were preserved. The concurrent observation of trends toward increased neural activation and IBS under stress is compatible with, but does not prove, potential compensatory mechanisms. The identified neural and behavioral correlations point to a potential connection between executive and social processes under stress. We tentatively frame these exploratory observations within the "Executive-Social Function Coupling Hypothesis" as a heuristic model for future research. The implications of these preliminary findings are discussed.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.