Personalized Detection of Stress via hdrEEG: Linking Neuro-markers to Cortisol, HRV, and Self-Report

Abstract: Chronic stress is a major risk factor for cognitive decline, neurodegenerative disease, and systemic health burden, underscoring the need for reliable individual-level biomarkers of stress reactivity. While cortisol, heart rate variability (HRV), and self-report measures are widely used, they provide limited insight into neural mechanisms. Here, we tested whether two single-channel hdrEEG biomarkers, ST4 and T2, serve as personalized indices of stress regulation by linking neural activity to validated physiological and subjective measures. We conducted two studies. Study 1 included 101 healthy adults (22-82 years) who completed questionnaires on resilience, burnout, and perceived stress, provided salivary cortisol, and underwent hdrEEG during resting, detection, n-back, lexical, emotional music, and startle tasks. Study 2 included 82 adults (19-42 years) who completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, were monitored for HRV, and performed auditory, stress-inducing (job interview, arithmetic), and emotional tasks during hdrEEG recording. Across studies, ST4 reflected physiological arousal and cognitive strain, correlating positively with cortisol, subjective stress, and pulse pressure, and negatively with resilience and HRV indices. T2 showed a complementary profile, linking emotional and autonomic processes. T2 activity correlated with cortisol, heart rate, HRV measures, resilience, and trait anxiety, especially during lexical and emotional tasks. Together, ST4 and T2 capture distinct facets of the stress response: physiological arousal versus emotional-regulatory sensitivity. These findings highlight portable hdrEEG as a promising tool for personalized stress assessment, bridging neural, physiological, and subjective domains with implications for clinical and occupational monitoring.