Abstract:  Stress emerges as a frontier topic in many disciplines. The laboratory based on stress research often employs different induction paradigms with varied efficacy, leading to incomparable results across different labs. The current review summarized common paradigms in stress induction based on the sources of stressors, which results in either fast or slow stress responses, varied cortisol levels in saliva, and different patterns in brain activation. Physiological stressors lead to earlier excitation of SNS system and brain stem; psychological stressors lead to activation of HPA axis, frontal lobe and limbic system; while combined stressors lead to activation of both SNS system and HPA axis. Measurement of fast and slow stress-response system together therefore is important in a full understanding of different stress induction paradigms, and reveals the dynamic changes of the two systems in stress research.

Key words:  acute stress, induction paradigms, cortisol