Speaker: Professor Brian Hughes, NUI Ireland

Beyond reactivity: Adaptation of the cardiovascular stress response

The cardiovascular reactivity hypothesis predicts that non-midrange cardiovascular stress responses elevate risk of cardiovascular disease onset and progression. Research on cardiovascular stress reactivity is very robust, but has raised several anomalies. One problem is that it overlooks the role of individual differences in stress response adaptation, that is, the degree to which people vary not in response intensity but in trajectory of stress response once one has been elicited. This seminar shows how scrutiny of adaptation, in addition to reactivity, enhances the psychobiology of cardiovascular stress. 

Host: Robin Goodwin

Refreshments 3.30pm Common Room