Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis physiology and cognitive control of behavior in stress inoculated monkeys

Monkeys exposed to stress inoculation protocols early in life subsequently exhibit diminished neurobiological responses to moderate psychological stressors and enhanced cognitive control of behavior during juvenile development compared to non-inoculated monkeys. The present experiments extended these findings and revealed that stress inoculated monkeys: (a) mount neurobiological responses equivalent to non-inoculated monkeys when the stressor is of sufficient intensity, and (b) continue to exhibit enhanced cognitive control as young adults compared to non-inoculated monkeys. These results suggest that stress inoculation protocols alter the appraisal of and response to moderate stressors as less threatening and permanently enhance cognitive control, at least through early adulthood. These data therefore support the notion that the stress inoculation phenotype reflects stress resilience rather than stress pathology.