Abstract
The study about the effects of stress on cognition and behavior is an area of special interest and research development for psychology and neurosciences. Stress induction is an essential element for these studies, because it enables the manipulation of this kind of emotional activation as an independent variable to prove its effect over behavior. Nevertheless, this induction must be enough to produce a significant increase in cortisol levels and, at the same time, to achieve the stablished ethical standards for experiments with human beings. This article aims to provide a general review about emotional activation in order to deepen the procedures used in the experimental induce stress in human beings. The conclusion is that the elaboration of more efficient protocols is required, and the use of simulation and other technologic tools could be very useful.
Keywords:
stress; cortisol; emotional activation; cognition; behavior