Physiology & Behavior

According to Hans Selye, physical or mental imbalance caused by harmful stimuli can induce stress to maintain homeostasis. However, a growing body of evidence from research on stress such as psychoneuroimmunology support the reciprocal connections between our biology and behavior. Chronic stress hyperactivate the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical axis, releasing stress hormones, which, on the long term may impair human behaviour and performance. Unfortunately, nowadays there is no accepted standard for stress evaluation. This Special Issue aims to integrate studies using existing stress measurement methods, both, psychological questionnaires and biological markers such as cortisol, amylase or heart rate variability to explore stress effects on different levels of human behaviour and performance. In particular, we will provide a rationale of the importance to ass the psychophysiological stress response in the following areas: • Effects of the psychophysiological stress response on the brain, cognitive functioning and health • Effects of the psychophysiological stress response on professional performance and under extreme conditions