EEG and HF data under stress
Description
The study included 40 healthy students: 21 males and 19 females. Participants were free from cardiovascular and neurological issues and not on medications affecting the autonomic nervous system. Written consent was obtained. Underlying stress levels were measured using the Thai Perceived Stress Scale (T-PSS-10) [59], and only those with low to moderate stress were included. Experiments were conducted between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to control the effect of circadian rhythms on physiological activity. A mental arithmetic task (MAT) was employed to induce stress, with participants performing tasks under both control and stress conditions in a within-subject design to reduce individual variability. The experiment involved six stages: Habituation (no recordings), baseline (Eyes Open, EEG and ECG recorded for 5 minutes), low-stress Arithmetic Stress Task 1 (5 minutes with 50% accuracy), a 2-minute Break, high-stress Arithmetic Stress Task 2 (with auditory distraction to simulate real-world stress and increase cognitive load), and a 5-minute Recovery period. EEG data from 29 subjects (13 males and 16 females) were included for PAC analyses, each having between 5 and 200 epochs of artifact-free 2-second data per condition. Baseline ECG signals from the 29 subjects were further digitally high-pass filtered at 1 Hz and carefully examined to exclude any cardiac arrhythmias, such as bradycardia (heart rate < 60 bpm), tachycardia (heart rate > 100 bpm), or premature contractions. HF Norm values were then extracted using LabChart Software (ADInstruments). Subjects with low HRV were identified as those with HF Norm values below the median (14 subjects), while the other 14 subjects were classified as high HRV.
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Steps to reproduce
ECG electrodes were placed on the right arm and left leg to capture heart signals at 1 kHz, bandpass filtered between 0.3 and 200 Hz (ADInstruments, Dunedin, New Zealand). For EEG measurements, electrodes were positioned at 6 specific locations (Fp1, Fp2, F3, F4, P3, P4) according to the 10-20 system. The signals were referenced to a common point. EEG data were recorded at 2 kHz, with impedance below 10 kΩ, and low-pass filtered at 200 Hz (eego™ 8 ANT neuro, Hengelo, Netherlands).