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.
Highlights
The incidence of stress-related disorders such as depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular disease is rising
We focused on the effects of alpha and beta power as these are commonly investigated in the stress literature with mixed cognitive and other stressors
As hypothesized and in line with research showing that cognitive activity is related to a decrease in alpha and an increase in beta activity in task-r elated brain areas (Klimesch, 1999; Stern & Engel, 2013), we found significantly reduced alpha and significantly increased beta power following stress induced by a cognitive stressor (PASAT) compared to resting state
Summary
The incidence of stress-related disorders such as depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular disease is rising. In line with the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in stress response regulation (Herman et al, 2003; McEwen & Gianaros, 2011), changes in the rhythmicity of EEG activity in the PFC have been suggested as stress markers (Alonso et al, 2015; Al-Shargie et al, 2018; Lewis et al, 2007). (a) alpha power (8–13 Hz) is thought to decrease because of its association with relaxation and inverse relation to cognitive activity (Klimesch, 1999), while (b) beta power (13–30 Hz) is thought to increase in response to stress (Tran et al, 2007) due to its association with information processing and anxiety (Stern & Engel, 2013). Gamma power is increased among patients with depression, compared to controls, and in students during examination stress (Strelets et al, 2007), pointing towards increased gamma activity due to stress
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