Behavioral Strategies In Response Research Articles

Locus coeruleus modulation of prefrontal dynamics and encoding of flexible rule switching.

Behavioral flexibility, the ability to adjust behavioral strategies in response to changing environmental contingencies and internal demands, is fundamental to cognitive functions. Despite a large body of pharmacology and lesion studies, the underlying neurophysiological correlates and mechanisms that support flexible rule switching are under active investigation. To address this question, we trained mice to distinguish complex sensory cues comprising different perceptual dimensions (set shifting). Endoscopic calcium imaging revealed that medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons exhibited pronounced dynamic changes during rule switching. Notably, prominent encoding capacity in the mPFC was associated with switching across, but not within perceptual dimensions. We then showed the functional importance of the ascending input from the locus coeruleus (LC), as LC inhibition impaired rule switching behavior and impeded mPFC dynamic processes and encoding. Our results highlight the pivotal role of the mPFC in set shifting processes and demonstrate the profound impact of ascending neuromodulation on shaping prefrontal neural dynamics and behavioral flexibility.

Distinct roles of prefrontal cortex neurons in set shifting.

Cognitive flexibility, the ability to adjust behavioral strategies in response to changing environmental contingencies, requires adaptive processing of internal states and contextual cues to guide goal-oriented behavior, and is dependent on prefrontal cortex (PFC) functions. However, the neurophysiological underpinning of how the PFC supports cognitive flexibility is not well understood and has been under active investigation. We recorded spiking activity from single PFC neurons in mice performing the attentional set-shifting task, where mice learned to associate different contextually relevant sensory stimuli to reward. We identified subgroups of PFC neurons encoding task context, choice and trial outcome. Putative fast-spiking neurons were more involved in representing outcome and choice than putative regular-spiking neurons. Regression model further revealed that task context and trial outcome modulated the activity of choice-encoding neurons in rule-dependent and cell type-dependent manners. Together, our data provide new evidence to elucidate PFC's role in cognitive flexibility, suggesting differential cell type-specific engagement during set shifting, and that both contextual rule representation and trial outcome monitoring underlie PFC's unique capacity to support flexible behavioral switching.

Ineffective coping (00069): A Walker and Avant conceptual analysis.

To analyze the diagnostic concept of "ineffective coping" (00069) proposed by NANDA-I, using Walker and Avant's framework. The theoretical framework of Walker and Avant was used for the concept analysis. A search was performed in the Virtual Health Library portal using the keywords "ineffective coping" and "enfrentamento ineficaz." According to the literature, ineffective coping is defined as an adoption of inadequate psychosocial and behavioral strategies in response to a set of contextual stressors that negatively affect well-being and lifestyle. The concept created for ineffective coping has the potential to address the psychosocial elements associated with life experiences in the face of coping mechanisms. This analysis may contribute to the improvement of nursing care for patients experiencing difficult situations in their lives, as well as the challenges of nursing interventions that promote positive adaptation.

Cell-type-specific hypothalamic pathways to brainstem drive context-dependent strategies in response to stressors

Adaptive behavioral responses to stressors are critical for survival. However, which brain areas orchestrate switching the appropriate stress responses to distinct contexts is an open question. This study aimed to identify the cell-type-specific brain circuitry governing the selection of distinct behavioral strategies in response to stressors. Through novel mouse behavior paradigms, we observed distinct stressor-evoked behaviors in two psycho-spatially distinct contexts characterized by stressors inside or outside the safe zone. The identification of brain regions activated in both conditions revealed the involvement of the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH). Further investigation using optogenetics, chemogenetics, and photometry revealed that glutamatergic projections from the DMH to periaqueductal gray (PAG) mediated responses to inside stressors, while GABAergic projections, particularly from tachykinin1-expressing neurons, played a crucial role in coping with outside stressors. These findings elucidate the role of cell-type-specific circuitry from the DMH to the PAG in shaping behavioral strategies in response to stressors. These findings have the potential to advance our understanding of fundamental neurobiological processes and inform the development of novel approaches for managing context-dependent and anxiety-associated pathological conditions such as agoraphobia and claustrophobia.

Glyphosate-based herbicide (GBH) challenged thermoregulation in lizards (Eremias argus), compensatory warming could mitigate this effect

Chemical pollution and global warming are two major threats to reptiles, and these two factors can interact with each other. Glyphosate have attracted worldwide attention due to their ubiquitous occurrence, yet their impact on reptiles remains unknown. We designed a crossover experiment with different external GBH exposures (control/GBH) x different environmental temperatures (current climate treatment/warmer climate treatment) over 60 days to simulate environmental exposure in the Mongolian Racerunner lizard (Eremias argus). Preferred body temperature and active body temperature data were collected to calculate the accuracy of thermoregulation, while liver detoxification metabolic enzymes, oxidative stress system function, and the non-targeted metabolome of the brain tissue were assessed. Warmer-treated lizards adjusted their physiological levels and behavioral strategies in response to increased ambient temperatures and maintained body temperature homeostasis at moderate thermal perturbations. GBH-treated lizards suffered from oxidative damage to the brain tissue and abnormal histidine metabolism, thus their thermoregulatory accuracy reduced. Interestingly, at elevated ambient temperatures, GBH treatment did not affect on their thermoregulatory, possibly through several temperature-dependent detoxification mechanisms. Importantly, this data suggested that the subtle toxicological effects of GBH may threaten increasingly thermoregulation behavior of E. argus with species-wide repercussions, as climate change and exposure time extension.

The locus coeruleus mediates behavioral flexibility

Behavioral flexibility is the ability to adjust behavioral strategies in response to changing environmental contingencies. A major hypothesis in the field posits that the activity of neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) plays an important role in mediating behavioral flexibility. To test this hypothesis, we developed a tactile-based rule-shift detection task in which mice responded to left and right whisker deflections in a context-dependent manner and exhibited varying degrees of switching behavior. Recording spiking activity from optogenetically tagged neurons in the LC at millisecond precision during task performance revealed a prominent graded correlation between baseline LC activity and behavioral flexibility, where higher baseline activity following a rule change was associated with faster behavioral switching to the new rule. Increasing baseline LC activity with optogenetic activation accelerated task switching and improved task performance. Overall, our study provides important evidence to reveal the link between LC activity and behavioral flexibility.

Back to the drawing board-The relationship between self-report and neuropsychological tests of cognitive flexibility in clinical cohorts: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Cognitive flexibility has been previously described as the ability to adjust cognitive and behavioral strategies in response to changing contextual demands. Cognitive flexibility is typically assessed via self-report questionnaires and performance on neuropsychological tests in research and clinical practice. A common assumption among researchers and clinicians is that self-report and neuropsychological tests of cognitive flexibility assess the same or similar constructs, but the extent of the relationship between these two assessment approaches in clinical cohorts remains unknown. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the relationship between self-report and neuropsychological tests of cognitive flexibility in clinical samples. We searched 10 databases and relevant gray literature (e.g., other databases and pearling) from inception to October 2020 and used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses reporting guidelines. Eleven articles including 405 participants satisfied our eligibility criteria. A multilevel random-effects meta-analysis revealed no relationship between self-report and neuropsychological tests of cognitive flexibility (0.01, 95% CI [-0.16 to 0.18]). Individual random-effects meta-analyses between 12 different tests pairs also found no relationship. Based on our results, it is clear that the two assessment approaches of cognitive flexibility provide independent information-they do not assess the same construct. These findings have important ramifications for future research and clinical practice-there is a need to reconsider what constructs self-report and neuropsychological tests of "cognitive flexibility" actually assess, and avoid the interchangeable use of these assessments in clinical samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Interactions Between Temperature Variability and Reproductive Physiology Across Traits in an Intertidal Crab.

Thermal extremes alter population processes, which can result in part from temperature-induced movement at different spatial and temporal scales. Thermal thresholds for animal movement likely change based on underlying thermal physiology and life-history stage, a topic that requires greater study. The intertidal porcelain crab Petrolisthes cinctipes currently experiences temperatures that can reach near-lethal levels in the high-intertidal zone at low tide. However, the thermal thresholds that trigger migration to cooler microhabitats, and the extent to which crabs move in response to temperature, remain unknown. Moreover, the influence of reproductive status on these thresholds is rarely investigated. We integrated demographic, molecular, behavioral, and physiological measurements to determine if behavioral thermal limits varied due to reproductive state. Demographic data showed a trend for gravid, egg bearing, crabs to appear more often under rocks in the cooler intertidal zone where crab density is highest. In situ expression of 31 genes related to stress, metabolism, and growth in the field differed significantly based on intertidal elevation, with mid-intertidal crabs expressing the gene for the reproductive yolk protein vitellogenin (vg) earlier in the season. Furthermore, VG protein levels were shown to increase with density for female hemolymph. Testing for temperatures that elicit movement revealed that gravid females engage in heat avoidance behavior at lower temperatures (i.e., have a lower voluntary thermal maximum, VTmax) than non-gravid females. VTmax was positively correlated with the temperature of peak firing rate for distal afferent nerve fibers in the walking leg, a physiological relationship that could correspond to the mechanistic underpinning for temperature dependent movement. The vulnerability of marine organisms to global change is predicated by their ability to utilize and integrate physiological and behavioral strategies in response to temperature to maximize survival and reproduction. Interactions between fine-scale temperature variation and reproductive biology can have important consequences for the ecology of species, and is likely to influence how populations respond to ongoing climate change.

Low temperature triggers physiological and behavioral shifts in adult oriental armyworm, Mythimna separata

Migratory insects display diverse behavioral strategies in response to external environmental shifts, via energy allocation of migration-reproduction trade-offs. However, how migratory insects distribute energy between migration and reproduction as an adaptive strategy to confront temporary low temperatures remains unclear. Here, we used Mythimna separata, a migratory cereal crop pest, to explore the effects of low temperature on reproductive performance, behavior, and energy allocation. We found that the influence of low temperatures on reproduction was not absolutely negative, but instead depended on the intensity, duration, and age of exposure to low temperature. Exposure to 6°C for 24 h significantly accelerated the onset of oviposition and ovarian development, and increased the synchrony of egg-laying and lifetime fecundity in 1-day-old adults compared to the control, while female's flight capacity decreased significantly on the first and second day after moths were exposed to 6°C. Furthermore, the abdominal and total triglycerides levels of females decreased significantly from exposure to low temperature, but their thoracic triglyceride content was significantly higher than the control on the third and fourth day. These results indicated that low temperatures induced M. separata to reduce energy investment for the development of flight system. This resulted in the shifting of moths from being migrants to residents during the environmental sensitive period (first day post-emergence). This expands our understanding of the adaptive strategy employed by migratory insects to deal with low temperatures and aids in the management of this pest species in China.

The hypothalamus coordinates diverse escape strategies from threat

The neural circuits orchestrating complex behavioral response strategies to threat are not understood. In this issue of Neuron, Wang etal. (2021) establish the hypothalamic dorsal premammillary nucleus as a critical node that communicates with thalamic and midbrain regions to coordinate diverse escape strategies.

Persistent Hydrodynamic Cues Elicit Orientation-Specific Behavioral Sensitivities and Kinematic Responses in Dispersed Crab Larvae

The estuarine mud crab Panopeus herbstii navigates a complex, but structured, hydrodynamic environment throughout its life history. The effects of hydrodynamic cues associated with turbulent flows on larval behavior are relatively well understood in the context of selective tidal stream transport (STST) phenomena during the dispersed (pelagic) larval stages preceding benthic settlement. In contrast, the potential relevance of hydrodynamic cues associated with spatiotemporally persistent flow features, which are typical of estuarine regions of enhanced productivity such as fronts and clines, remains much less certain. To investigate the behavioral relevance of persistent hydrodynamic cues, larval assays were conducted in a flume system that uses a laminar slot jet to produce steady fluid shear layers. Further, to ascertain whether or not the spatial orientation of the shear layers relative to gravity significantly affected larval behavior, assays were conducted in upwelling, downwelling, and horizontal shear flows, corresponding to the direction of the bulk flow produced by the jet. The flow was quantified using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and tuned to produce ecologically-relevant hydrodynamic conditions for larval assays. Changes in larval swimming kinematics show a distinct response to shear flows in all orientations relative to no-flow conditions, and the macro effect of these changes is to enhance depth-keeping and induce area-restricted search behaviors. Furthermore, the specifics of larval behavioral responses depend on the directional orientation of the shear flow, and the statistical properties of the strength of the hydrodynamic cue (vorticity) eliciting these responses are also shown to be shear flow orientation-specific. Orientation-specific hydrodynamic sensitivity and behavioral response strategies in the presence of persistent hydrodynamic cues may enable larvae to effectively forage and sample to locate and exploit nearby resource patches, while also inducing dispersal trajectories towards favorable benthic settlement habitats through depth regulation and effective STST. In this regard, hydrodynamic cues associated with spatiotemporally persistent flow features are likely fundamental drivers of decapod crab larvae behavior and may act as another mechanism of larval patchiness by directly impacting finescale population distributions and resultant dispersal trajectories.

Evaluating Indirect Effects of Hunting on Mule Deer Spatial Behavior

ABSTRACTMule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are widely hunted throughout western North America and are experiencing population declines across much of their range. Consequently, understanding the direct and indirect effects of hunting is important for management of mule deer populations. Managers can influence deer mortality rates through changes in hunting season length or authorized tag numbers. Little is known, however, about how hunting can affect site fidelity patterns and subsequent habitat use and movement patterns of mule deer. Understanding these patterns is especially important for adult females because changes in behavior may influence their ability to acquire resources and ultimately affect their productivity. Between 2008 and 2013, we obtained global positioning system locations for 42 adult female deer at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range in northeast Oregon, USA, during 5‐day control and treatment periods in which hunters were absent (pre‐hunt), present but not actively hunting (scout and post‐hunt), and actively hunting male mule deer (hunt) on the landscape. We estimated summer home ranges and 5‐day use areas during pre‐hunt and hunt periods and calculated overlap metrics across home ranges and use areas to assess site fidelity within and across years. We used step selection functions to evaluate whether female mule deer responded to human hunters by adjusting fine‐scale habitat selection and movement patterns during the hunting season compared to the pre‐hunt period. Mule deer maintained site fidelity despite disturbance by hunters with 72 ± 4% (SE) within‐year overlap between summer home ranges and hunt use areas and 54 ± 7% inter‐annual overlap among pre‐hunt use areas and 56 ± 7% among hunt use areas. Mule deer diurnal movement rates, when hunters are active on the landscape, were higher during the hunting period versus pre‐hunt or scout periods. In contrast, nocturnal movement rates, when hunters are inactive on the landscape, were similar between hunting and non‐hunting periods. Additionally, during the hunt, female mule deer hourly movements increased in areas with high greenness values, indicating that mule deer spent less time in areas with more vegetative productivity. Female mule deer maintained consistent habitat selection patterns before and during hunts, selecting areas that offered more forest canopy cover and high levels of vegetative productivity. Our results indicate that deer at Starkey are adopting behavioral strategies in response to hunters by increasing their movement rates and selecting habitat in well‐established ranges. Therefore, considering site fidelity behavior in management planning could provide important information about the spatial behavior of animals and potential energetic costs incurred, especially by non‐target animals during hunting season. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

Action-Outcome Expectancies Require Orbitofrontal Neurotrophin Systems in Naïve and Cocaine-Exposed Mice.

Cocaine use during adolescence decreases the likelihood that individuals will seek treatment for recurrent drug use. In rodents, developmental cocaine exposure weakens action-consequence decision-making, causing a deferral to familiar, habit-like behavioral response strategies. Here, we aimed to improve action-outcome decision-making. We found that acute pharmacological stimulation of the tyrosine/tropomyosin receptor kinase B (trkB) via 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF) or 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) blocked cocaine-induced habit biases by strengthening memory for action-outcome associations. We believe that MDMA acts by stimulating neurotrophin/trkB systems in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a region involved in prospectively evaluating the consequences of one's action, because 1) MDMA also increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the OFC, 2) MDMA corrected habit biases due to Bdnf loss in the OFC, and 3) overexpression of a truncated isoform of trkB occluded the memory-enhancing effects of MDMA. Thus, selecting actions based on their consequences requires BDNF-trkB in the OFC, the stimulation of which may improve goal attainment in both drug-naïve and cocaine-exposed individuals. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Cocaine use during adolescence decreases the likelihood that individuals will seek treatment for recurrent drug use, even as adults. Understanding how early-life cocaine exposure impacts goal-oriented action and prospective decision-making in adulthood is thus important. One key aspect of goal-directed decision-making is anticipating the consequences of one's actions, a process that likely involves the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In rodents, developmental cocaine exposure weakens action-consequence decision-making, causing a deferral to familiar, habit-like behavioral response strategies. Here, we report that we can improve memory for action-consequence relationships by stimulating neurotrophic factors, which support cell survival, development, and plasticity in the brain. With strengthened action-consequence associations, cocaine-exposed mice regain the ability to optimally select actions based on their likely outcomes. Brain region-selective manipulations reveal that neurotrophin systems in the OFC are necessary for stable memory of action-consequence relationships.

Saliency modulates behavioral strategies in response to social comparison

Social comparison has been found to affect humans in many aspects including outcome evaluation, emotional reaction, and decision-making. Here, two experiments were conducted using a gambling task involving monetary gains and losses (absolute outcome: win/loss), whereby participants' outcome was either better or worse than the outcome of a paired player (relative outcome: better/worse). The results of experiment 1 showed that participants switched more frequently after absolute losses compared with absolute gains, consistent with previous studies showing a win-stay lose-shift heuristic in repeated decision-making. Participants also adopted a better-stay worse-switch strategy where they switched more often after worse outcomes than better outcomes when compared with others, demonstrating that the win-stay lose-shift rule is extended to social comparison situations. In Experiment 2, through manipulating visual saliency, we replicated these findings and further demonstrated that decision making is influenced by emphasizing either the absolute (gain/loss) or relative (better/worse) aspect of the outcomes. Our research indicates that attentional modulation of information orchestrates social comparison, possibly by changing how each aspect of the information is weighted. These findings reinforce the idea that attention influences higher-level decision making by changing the weighting of each decisional dimension.

Maternal Care Determinant of Longevity?

Maternal care is an essential early environment in mammals that ensures emotional regulation and adaptive fitness of progeny. Longevity and healthy aging are associated with favorable environmental factors including fitting social and behavioral features. In the present review, we discuss the findings that link rearing conditions and early maternal care with life span and aging from an evolutionary, psychological, and molecular perspective. The quality of maternal care may influence internal adaptation through a variety of parallel mechanisms including emotional regulation, stress sensitivity, coping and other behavioral strategies in response to events requiring adaptation. From a biological perspective, it regulates physiological pathways that may persist in adulthood through epigenetic mechanisms, influencing disease susceptibility and, potentially, longevity. Abnormal maternal care induces maladaptation that persists over the life span, may accelerate the onset of aging associated diseases, and shorten life span. This may have important implications in the development of preventive approaches and early interventions.

GABAAα1-mediated plasticity in the orbitofrontal cortex regulates context-dependent action selection.

An essential aspect of goal-directed action selection is differentiating between behaviors that are more, or less, likely to be reinforced. Habits, by contrast, are stimulus-elicited behaviors insensitive to action-outcome contingencies and are considered an etiological factor in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Thus, isolating the neuroanatomy and neurobiology of goal-directed action selection on the one hand, and habit formation on the other, is critical. Using in vivo viral-mediated gene silencing, we knocked down Gabra1 in the orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex (oPFC) in mice, decreasing oPFC GABAAα1 expression, as well as expression of the synaptic marker PSD-95. Mice expressing Green Fluorescent Protein or Gabra1 knockdown in the adjacent M2 motor cortex served as comparison groups. Using instrumental response training followed by action-outcome contingency degradation, we then found that oPFC GABAAα1 deficiency impaired animals' ability to differentiate between actions that were more or less likely to be reinforced, though sensitivity to outcome devaluation and extinction were intact. Meanwhile, M2 GABAAα1 deficiency enhanced sensitivity to action-outcome relationships. Behavioral abnormalities following oPFC GABAAα1 knockdown were rescued by testing mice in a distinct context relative to that in which they had been initially trained. Together, our findings corroborate evidence that chronic GABAAα1 deficiency remodels cortical synapses and suggest that neuroplasticity within the healthy oPFC gates the influence of reward-related contextual stimuli. These stimuli might otherwise promote maladaptive habit-based behavioral response strategies that contribute to-or exacerbate-neuropsychiatric illness.

The large-scale deployment of fish aggregation devices alters environmentally-based migratory behavior of skipjack tuna in the Western Pacific Ocean.

Fish aggregation devices (FADs) have been used extensively in the tuna purse seine fishery since the 1980s. This long-term modification of natural habitat has generated discussions as to whether FADs impact movement patterns of tuna species. We examined this question using data collected from the skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) fishery. We used the longitudinal gravitational center of catch (G) to examine temporal variability in skipjack movement in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, and related this to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. We found that in most cases G for free-swimming school sets changed with the onset of ENSO events, while G for floating-object-associated school sets remained relatively constant. This suggests that skipjack exhibit distinguishable behavioral strategies in response to ENSO events: they either react by moving long distances or they associate with floating objects. There has been no previous attempt to evaluate the interaction between FADs and the environmentally-determined movement of skipjack; this study shows evidence of an interaction, which should be considered when managing skipjack populations.

Neonatal lipopolysaccharide exposure induces sexually dimorphic sickness behavior in adult rats.

aim of the present study was to evaluate whether neonatal exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 50 µg/kg, i.p., on postnatal day 2) induces depressive- and/or anxiety-like effects and sexually dimorphic responses in rats challenged with LPS (100 µg/kg, i.p.) in adulthood. The results revealed that males presented a less depressive state in the forced swim test and exhibited no changes in general motor activity in the open field test. Females exhibited an increase in sickness behavior, revealing different behavioral strategies in response to a bacterial disease. The male rats also exhibited higher cell proliferation, reflected by bone marrow and peripheral blood counts, and female rats exhibited a decrease in corticosterone levels. No changes were observed in the elevated plus maze or peripheral cytokine levels (interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α). Neonatal exposure to LPS induced sexually dimorphic behavioral, neuroendocrine, and immune effects after an LPS challenge in adulthood, differentially affecting male and female susceptibility to disease later in life.

Cytoskeletal Determinants of Stimulus-Response Habits

Both humans and rodents can learn to associate specific actions with their outcomes, but with repeated performance or exposure to pathological stimuli, such as drugs of abuse, behaviors assume stimulus-elicited, or "habitual," qualities. Psychostimulants remodel dorsal striatal neurons, critical determinants of decision-making strategies, but cytoskeletal mechanisms associated with drug-induced habit formation are largely unknown. We first show that cocaine can bias decision-making strategies toward stimulus-response habits by interfering with learning about the predictive relationship between a response and its outcome. In the dorsomedial, but not ventral, striatum, cocaine decreases PSD95 expression and phosphorylation of cortactin, a cytoskeletal regulator that interacts with, and is phophorylated by, the Abl2 (Arg) kinase. Based on this pattern, we inhibited Abl-family kinase signaling in the dorsomedial striatum, impairing new response-outcome learning. Consistent with evidence that the dorsomedial striatum promotes response-outcome decision-making while the dorsolateral compartment promotes stimulus-response habits, inhibition of Abl-family kinases in the dorsolateral striatum reinstates goal sensitivity in over-trained "habitual" mice. These findings provide a structural mechanism by which even acute exposure to drugs of abuse can reorganize behavioral response strategies and promote outcome-insensitive stimulus-response habits.

If at first you don't succeed: the neuroendocrine impact of using a range of strategies during social conflict

Using a variety of cognitive or behavioral strategies to manage stressful situations may be more adaptive than relying on a narrow selection. Although research has explored the psychological benefits of a range of coping responses, the physiological impact within and across stressful situations has not been examined. Moreover, research has primarily relied upon self-reports of what people believe they generally do across stressful situations, which may be subject to recall bias. This study observed and coded the range of behavioral response strategies that young adults (n=74, mean age 18.1) used to manage a laboratory-based, interpersonal conflict task and collected self-reports of the cognitive strategies used to manage similar stressors. Analyses examined the impact of response range on cortisol activity during the task. Greater range of observed response strategies predicted lower cortisol reactivity (t(133)=2.65; p=.009), whereas the range of self-reported strategies was unrelated to cortisol reactivity (t(133)=.53; p=.60). Results support observational assessment as an important supplement to self-reports of responses to stress and suggest that the range of strategies used to manage the momentary demands of a stressful situation may help explain individual differences in the impact of stress on physiological systems.