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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 May;55(9-10):2464-2473.
doi: 10.1111/ejn.15211. Epub 2021 May 3.

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

Nina M Ehrhardt  1   2   3 , Julia Fietz  4   5 , Johannes Kopf-Beck  1 , Nils Kappelmann  4   5 , Anna-Katharine Brem  1   6
Affiliations
Free article
Randomized Controlled Trial

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

Nina M Ehrhardt et al. Eur J Neurosci. 2022 May.
Free article

Abstract

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.

Keywords: EEG; Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test; frontal alpha activity; frontal beta activity; stress.

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