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

• Published in: The European journal of neuroscience Vol. 55; no. 9-10; pp. 2464 - 2473
• Main Authors: Ehrhardt, Nina M., Fietz, Julia, Kopf‐Beck, Johannes, Kappelmann, Nils, Brem, Anna‐Katharine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: France Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.05.2022
• Subjects: Cognition - physiology; Cognitive ability; EEG; Electroencephalography - methods; frontal alpha activity; frontal beta activity; Humans; Neuropsychological Tests; Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test; Prefrontal cortex; Pressure; stress; Stress response; stress; frontal alpha activity; Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test; frontal beta activity; EEG
• ISSN: 0953-816X; 1460-9568
• DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15211

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. The stress response is likely composed of different components such as cognitive effort, time pressure, and social‐evaluative threat. This study aimed to distinguish the frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) response to different stress components. A decrease in frontal alpha and increase in beta power were found compared to resting state, while there was no change in EEG power in response to time pressure or when adding social‐evaluative threat.