Systematic review explores how stress and glucocorticoids influence decision making, suggesting enhanced rapid responses but increased risks.
Stress is a psychophysiological response that helps the organism adapt to circumstances, with glucocorticoids playing a key role by influencing complex brain functions such as decision-making. This systematic review explores their impact by analyzing studies retrieved from PubMed, World Wide Science, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar using the strategies: (stress) AND (decision making), and “stress decision making,” limited to 2019–2023. Of 2,097 articles, 26 met relevance and duplication criteria. Findings suggest stress and glucocorticoids can enhance rapid responses but increase risky choices in intricate evaluations. Glucocorticoid concentrations did not mediate these effects, which seem to arise from multifaceted biological and environmental interactions. Limitations include open-access-only sources.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Reynoso-Arellano et al. (2025) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: