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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT07702747

The Association Between the Stress Hormone Cortisol and Decision-making

The goal of this study is to learn how acute psychosocial stress influences decision-making in healthy young adults. It will also examine whether cortisol reactivity, a biological stress response, changes the influence of physiological emotional signals on decision-making (i.e., the gut feeling indicating risks).

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. Does exposure to an acute psychosocial stressor affect the development of physiological emotional signals during decision-making? 2. Does cortisol reactivity moderate the relationship between physiological emotional signals and decision-making? 3. Are there sex differences in these relationships?

Researchers will compare participants exposed to a standardized psychosocial stress procedure, with participants exposed to a non-stressful control condition.

Participants will:

1. Be randomly assigned to either a psychosocial stress condition or a control condition. 2. Complete a gambling decision-making task following the experimental manipulation. 3. Provide multiple saliva samples and subjective stress ratings throughout the session to assess stress reactivity. 4. Undergo continuous electrodermal activity recording during the decision-making task to measure physiological emotional signals.

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Key information

Conditions

Healthy Young Adults

Age range

18 year–35 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal

Montreal, Quebec, H1N3M5, Canada

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Adult aged 18-35 years old.

Exclusion criteria

  • Current or past psychiatric/neurodevelopmental disorders
  • Physical illness
  • Medication use (except hormonal contraception)
  • Alcohol consumption exceeding Health Canada guidelines (>10 drinks/week for women, >15 for men)
  • Smoking more than 7 cigarettes/day.

Treatment and study plan

Trier Social Stress Test

Other

Participants completed a slightly modified version of the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST), a validated psychosocial stress induction protocol. The protocol involved a 10-minute anticipation period followed by a 10-minute test phase: a 5-minute mock job interview and a 5-minute surprise mental arithmetic task. During the test phase, participants stood in front of a one-way mirror ("Panel-out" version) and were told they were being observed by behavioral analysts and recorded via camera, although no recording took place and the analysts were lab confederates.

Primary outcomes

  1. Decision-making as assessed by the Iowa Gambling Task (probability of drawing from the risky decks vs safe decks)

    Time frame: Immediately after completing the experimental condition (Stress or control condition)

    Decision-making was assessed using the Iowa Gambling Task. In this task, participants need to draw 100 cards among 4 decks offering different win-loss contingencies. Some card decks are risky (large gains and losses), whereas some are safe (small gains and losses). The dependent variable was a binary variable indicating whether the participant drew a card from the risky (coded as 1) or the safe decks (coded as 0).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Difference in cortisol levels between the two conditions.

    Time frame: Baseline (just before the experimental condition is conducted), 10, 20, 50, 60, 70 minutes after the beginning of the experimental condition.

    Cortisol (ug/dL) was quantified for six saliva samples in each condition (Stress or control).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Marie-France Marin

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Stress-induced Cortisol Clouds the Gut Feeling in Decision-making: A Randomized Controlled Study

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2024
First posted
Jul 14, 2026
Registry last updated
Jul 14, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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