By speaker > Chatel-Goldman Jonas

Cognitive and emotional states such as stress can be measured with electroencephalography (EEG) through variations of alpha wave amplitude in prefrontal cortex. Afferent information from the viscera play a significant role in the modulation of these signals, impacting the nature and intensity of one's emotions. Gastrointestinal (GI) tract afferent interoceptive signals significantly modulate spontaneous brain activity at rest. As GI electrical rhythms change significantly under stress, their variations might be a potential candidate as a stress biomarker. Open Mind Innovation developed an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) protocol which efficiently induces stressful and relaxed states, as illustrated in blinded classification of sympathovagal markers (extracted from electrodermal activity and pulso-plethysmography - PPG recordings). Here, we propose to study the coupling between GI electrical activity - brain activity and its modulation in different levels of stress, from semi meditative, biofeedback guided state to high stress level (from cognitive overload).