Portable Brain Vital Sign Changes Following Resilience Training in First Responders
Abstract
Objective: First responders are routinely exposed to chronic occupational stress and may underreport psychological strain due to stigma and confidentiality concerns. Objective neurophysiological measures can provide useful adjunctive markers of intervention-related neurocognitive change in this population. The present study evaluated whether participation in a neuroscience-informed resilience training program was associated with measurable changes in event-related potentials (ERPs), providing objective evidence of the program’s real-world impact.
Methods: A retrospective pre-post design was used to analyze ERPs from 57 first responders who completed a three-day proactive resilience training program. ERPs were acquired using a brain vital sign framework, which included amplitude and latency metrics for the N100, P300, and N400 responses. Linear mixed-effects models evaluated pre-post changes while adjusting for age and sex, with false discovery rate correction applied across outcomes.
Results: Significant pre-post changes were observed for N400 latency, alongside a significant increase in N400 amplitude following the intervention. N400 latency decreased (β = -35.57 ms, q = .002) and N400 amplitude increased (β = 0.70, q < .001). No significant changes were observed for N100 or P300 responses following correction.
Conclusions: First responders demonstrated selective modulation of N400 indices following resilience training, which may reflect changes in higher-order cognitive processing speed and contextual integration. Findings provide preliminary evidence of intervention-associated neurophysiological change.
Significance: There is a pressing need for translational evidence demonstrating that real-world training programs produce objective impact. Taking advantage of the utility of ERPs as sensitive neurophysiological measures, the present findings highlight the potential value of resilience training for modulating neurocognitive processing in high-stress occupational populations
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BibTeX
@misc{creel2026portable,
title = {{Portable Brain Vital Sign Changes Following Resilience Training in First Responders}},
author = {William Tanner Creel and Eric D. Kirby and Ryan CN D’Arcy and Kevin Smith and Susan Farren and Tori R Van Dyk},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/36xsu_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/36xsu_v1/},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Portable Brain Vital Sign Changes Following Resilience Training in First Responders
AU - William Tanner Creel
AU - Eric D. Kirby
AU - Ryan CN D’Arcy
AU - Kevin Smith
AU - Susan Farren
AU - Tori R Van Dyk
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/05
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/36xsu_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/36xsu_v1/
AB - Objective: First responders are routinely exposed to chronic occupational stress and may underreport psychological strain due to stigma and confidentiality concerns. Objective neurophysiological measures can provide useful adjunctive markers of intervention-related neurocognitive change in this population. The present study evaluated whether participation in a neuroscience-informed resilience training program was associated with measurable changes in event-related potentials (ERPs), providing objective evidence of the program’s real-world impact. Methods: A retrospective pre-post design was used to analyze ERPs from 57 first responders who completed a three-day proactive resilience training program. ERPs were acquired using a brain vital sign framework, which included amplitude and latency metrics for the N100, P300, and N400 responses. Linear mixed-effects models evaluated pre-post changes while adjusting for age and sex, with false discovery rate correction applied across outcomes. Results: Significant pre-post changes were observed for N400 latency, alongside a significant increase in N400 amplitude following the intervention. N400 latency decreased (β = -35.57 ms, q = .002) and N400 amplitude increased (β = 0.70, q < .001). No significant changes were observed for N100 or P300 responses following correction. Conclusions: First responders demonstrated selective modulation of N400 indices following resilience training, which may reflect changes in higher-order cognitive processing speed and contextual integration. Findings provide preliminary evidence of intervention-associated neurophysiological change. Significance: There is a pressing need for translational evidence demonstrating that real-world training programs produce objective impact. Taking advantage of the utility of ERPs as sensitive neurophysiological measures, the present findings highlight the potential value of resilience training for modulating neurocognitive processing in high-stress occupational populations
ER -