PhD Scientific Days 2025

Budapest, 7-9 July 2025

Neurosciences

Multimodal Stress Marker Recognition Using Artificial Neural Networks: Toward Real-Time, Personalized Stress Assessment

Előadó neve

Dr. Bod Réka

Neptun code

CEV6KZ

Előadó munkahelye

HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences

Előadó telefonszáma

+36303829530

Előadó e-mail címe

bod.reka@phd.semmelweis.hu

Az előadás címe

Multimodal Stress Marker Recognition Using Artificial Neural Networks: Toward Real-Time, Personalized Stress Assessment

Szerző(k) neve és munkahelye

Réka Bod1, László Grand2, Lucia Wittner1

1: HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences
2: Polaritás-GM, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics

Bemutatás módja

Szóbeli

Szekció

Neurosciences

Language of the presentation

English

Preferred session

Neurosciences

Összefoglaló szövege

Introduction
Stress is a complex psychophysiological condition that affects well-being and long-term health. Objective stress detection through physiological signals holds great promise for clinical, occupational, and sports medicine applications, enabling adaptive, real-time mental state assessment.
Aims
This study aims to develop a multimodal artificial neural network (ANN) framework for accurate stress marker recognition using EEG, ECG, respiratory activity, and validated self-report data. The model is designed to integrate heterogeneous inputs and generalize under limited-sample conditions.
Method
Data were collected from 29 participants across two sessions: one control and one stress-inducing, randomly assigned. Each session involved Stroop, mental arithmetic, and Tetris tasks. The stress session introduced strict time limits, negative feedback, and randomly “sticky” arrow keys to increase cognitive-emotional load. Signals recorded included 32-channel EEG, ECG, respiratory effort and frequency, and self-reported STAI and PANAS scores. The ANN, implemented in PyTorch, includes dual EEG branches (a Temporal Convolutional Network and a Spatial CNN), GRU layers for ECG and respiration, and a multimodal fusion module with attention mechanisms to weigh modality importance dynamically.
Results
Preliminary results indicate distinct stress-related changes: involving EEG power spectra changes, reduced heart rate variability, elevated respiratory rate, and significant differences in questionnaire scores. These findings validate the effectiveness of the stress paradigm and the utility of combined physiological and psychological data.
Conclusion
The proposed ANN architecture shows promising prospects for real-time, automated stress classification across diverse settings. Final training and optimization of the model are ongoing and expected to be optimized by the beginning of the conference. Future directions include real-world deployment in wearable systems and integration into digital mental health tools.
Funding
This research is supported by the EKÖP-KDP scholarship program and the Semmelweis 250+ Excellence PhD Scholarship.

University

Semmelweis University

Supervisor

Lucia Wittner, DSc

Publication of my abstract

I give consent to the publication of my abstract on the website of the congress.

phd.section.field

in doctoral studies after complex exam (PhD)

Kind

Szabad

Status

elfogadva

Accepted presentation method

szóbeli

Előadás fájl jóváhagyás

nem hagyta jóvá

Előadó

7338

Start

10:30

End

10:45