Sensitivity to stress and deviated development paths

We are interested in comprehend the psychobiological components of sensitivity to stress, including cognitive, affective and developmental aspects.

We are interested in understanding the psychobiological components of sensitivity to stress, including cognitive, affective, and developmental aspects.

This line of research focuses on exploring the psychobiological components of stress sensitivity, including cognitive (i.e., metacognition), affective (i.e., affective style) and developmental (i.e., deviant trajectories) aspects. Within this approach, it is also interesting to link these aspects with other  variables, such as personality and problematic behaviors, including emotional imbalances, mood disorders, and eating behaviors.

Due to the complexity of the human response to stress, this line of research uses a range of methodologies, such as experimental paradigms (i.e., induction of interpersonal stress), physiological measures (i.e., hormonal-cortisol reactivity), subjective assessments and self-reports, and assessment of behavior (i.e., performance in signal detection tasks) among others. Using a variety of methodologies allows the development of a multilevel perspective, which has a direct impact on the comprehension of imbalances of development trajectories ( for instance major depressive disorder), which have been approached from both an applied research- and an intervention perspective.