Impact of Play Interventions on Stress and Anxiety Using EEG and AI.

This project will target university students during their exam periods, whether midterms, finals, regular exams, or make-up exams, as this is a time particularly sensitive to academic stress. Participation will be voluntary, with informed consent, and will take place in a space specially prepared to facilitate creative expression and gentle physical movement. The intervention aims to address this need through the use of brief expressive and somatic techniques, such as guided drawing, body movement, and symbolic reinterpretation. These practices activate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting states of calm and security that improve cognitive performance. The intervention lasts 20 minutes in a single session, integrating spontaneous drawing, guided emotional self-reflection, and gentle body exercises. Incorporating the recording of brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG) during the intervention, in a subgroup of participants with the help of the Emotiv Epoc X device, allowing objective observation of the modulation of brain activity in response to the emotional stimulus of the exam and measuring possible changes in electrical patterns associated with states of anxiety, attention and working memory.