Separating EEG correlates of stress: Cognitive effort, time pressure, and social‐evaluative threat

Ehrhardt, Nina M.; Fietz, Julia; Kopf‐Beck, Johannes; Kappelmann, Nils; Brem, Anna- Katharine (2021). Separating EEG correlates of stress: Cognitive effort, time pressure, and social‐evaluative threat. European journal of neuroscience, 55(9-10), pp. 2464-2473. Blackwell Science 10.1111/ejn.15211

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The prefrontal cortex is a key player in stress response regulation. Electroencephalographic (EEG) responses, such as a decrease in frontal alpha and an increase in frontal beta power, have been proposed to reflect stress-related brain activity. However, the stress response is likely composed of different parts such as cognitive effort, time pressure, and social-evaluative threat, which have not been distinguished in previous studies. This distinction, however, is crucial if we aim to establish reliable tools for early detection of stress-related conditions and monitoring of stress responses throughout treatment. This randomized cross-over study (N = 38) aimed to disentangle EEG correlates of stress. With linear mixed models accounting for missing values in some conditions, we found a decrease in frontal alpha and increase in beta power when performing the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT; cognitive effort; n = 32) compared to resting state (n = 33). No change in EEG power was found when the PASAT was performed under time pressure (n = 29) or when adding social-evaluative threat (video camera; n = 29). These findings suggest that frontal EEG power can discriminate stress from resting state but not more fine-grained differences of the stress response.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Geriatric Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

UniBE Contributor:

Brem, Anna- Katharine

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0953-816X

Publisher:

Blackwell Science

Language:

English

Submitter:

Katharina Klink

Date Deposited:

14 Oct 2021 10:07

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:53

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/ejn.15211

PubMed ID:

33780086

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/159681

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/159681

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