The Neuropsychobiology of Stress Response Control

A wide range of physical stimuli act as stressors and elicit stress responses. However, some stimuli are stressors because of their uncertainty, and the stress response is related to their hippocampal function and the brain cholinergic system that is involved in information processing. Studies of adaptation have implicated the amygdala nuclei in the suppression of responses to chronic stressors. In addition, some events are only interpretable as the result of complex cortical analysis on the basis of the individual’s experience and so the cortex must be sending inputs to the hippocampus and the amygdala.