Social interactions play a key role in modulating the impact of stressful experiences. In some cases, social interactions can result in social buffering, the process in which the presence of one individual reduces the physiological and behavioral impact of stress in another individual. On the other hand, there is growing evidence that a key initiating factor of social buffering behaviors is the initiation of an anxiogenic state in the individual that was not directly exposed to the stress. This is referred to as stress contagion (a form of emotion contagion). Both processes involve the transmission of social information, suggesting that contagion and buffering could share similar neural mechanisms. In general, mechanistic studies of contagion and buffering are considered separately, even though behavioral studies show that a degree of contagion is usually necessary for social buffering behaviors to occur. Here we consider the extent to which the neuropeptides corticotropin releasing hormone and oxytocin are involved in contagion and stress buffering. We also assess the importance that frontal cortical areas such as the anterior cingulate cortex and infralimbic cortex play in these behavioral processes. We suggest that further work that directly compares neural mechanisms during stress contagion and stress buffering will be important for identifying what appear to be distinct but overlapping circuits mediating these processes

社交互动在调节压力体验的影响方面发挥着关键作用。在某些情况下，社交互动可能会导致社交缓冲，在这个过程中，一个人的存在会减少压力对另一个人的生理和行为影响。另一方面，越来越多的证据表明，社会缓冲行为的一个关键起始因素是个体中没有直接暴露于压力的焦虑状态的开始。这被称为压力传染（情绪传染的一种形式）。这两个过程都涉及社会信息的传递，这表明传染和缓冲可能具有相似的神经机制。一般来说，传染和缓冲的机制研究是分开考虑的，尽管行为研究表明，社会缓冲行为的发生通常需要一定程度的传染。在这里，我们考虑神经肽促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素和催产素在多大程度上参与传染和压力缓冲。我们还评估了前扣带皮层和下边缘皮层等额叶皮层区域在这些行为过程中的重要性。我们建议进一步的工作直接比较压力传染和压力缓冲过程中的神经机制，这对于确定介导这些过程的看似不同但重叠的回路很重要 在这里，我们考虑神经肽促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素和催产素在多大程度上参与传染和压力缓冲。我们还评估了前扣带皮层和下边缘皮层等额叶皮层区域在这些行为过程中的重要性。我们建议进一步的工作直接比较压力传染和压力缓冲过程中的神经机制，这对于确定介导这些过程的看似不同但重叠的回路很重要 在这里，我们考虑神经肽促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素和催产素在多大程度上参与传染和压力缓冲。我们还评估了前扣带皮层和下边缘皮层等额叶皮层区域在这些行为过程中的重要性。我们建议进一步的工作直接比较压力传染和压力缓冲过程中的神经机制，这对于确定介导这些过程的看似不同但重叠的回路很重要