Figure 2 | Scientific Reports

Figure 2

From: A short humorous intervention protects against subsequent psychological stress and attenuates cortisol levels without affecting attention

Figure 2

(a) Salivary cortisol levels over the course of the experiment as a function of group. Depicted are raw nmol/l cortisol values for all four measurement timepoints. The light grey shaded area indicates the humor induction phase, the dark grey shaded area indicates the pain tolerance assessment and the stress induction phase. Error bars denote the standard error of the (group) mean. (b) Change of physiological stress levels over the course of the experiment as a function of group. To assess the change in physiological stress levels, the area under the curve with respect to increase was calculated including all four measurements of cortisol levels over the course of the experiment. Asterisks (*) indicate statistically significant differences: *p < .05.

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