Electrodermal activity

A sample GSR signal of 60 seconds duration

Electrodermal activity (EDA) is the property of the human body that causes continuous variation in the electrical characteristics of the skin. Historically, EDA has also been known as skin conductance, galvanic skin response (GSR), electrodermal response (EDR), psychogalvanic reflex (PGR), skin conductance response (SCR), sympathetic skin response (SSR) and skin conductance level (SCL). The long history of research into the active and passive electrical properties of the skin by a variety of disciplines has resulted in an excess of names, now standardized to electrodermal activity (EDA).[1][2][3]

The traditional theory of EDA holds that skin resistance varies with the state of sweat glands in the skin. Sweating is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system,[4] and skin conductance is an indication of psychological or physiological arousal. If the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is highly aroused, then sweat gland activity also increases, which in turn increases skin conductance. In this way, skin conductance can be a measure of emotional and sympathetic responses.[5] More recent research and additional phenomena (resistance, potential, impedance, electrochemical skin conductance, and admittance, sometimes responsive and sometimes apparently spontaneous) suggest that EDA is more complex than it seems, and research continues into the source and significance of EDA.

  1. ^ Boucsein, Wolfram (2012). Electrodermal Activity. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-461-41126-0. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  2. ^ Critchley, Hugo D. (April 2002). "Book Review: Electrodermal Responses: What Happens in the Brain". The Neuroscientist. 8 (2): 132–142. doi:10.1177/107385840200800209. PMID 11954558. S2CID 146232135. Retrieved 2015-04-15. Electrodermal activity (EDA) is now the preferred term for changes in electrical conductance of the skin, including phasic changes that have been referred to as galvanic skin responses (GSR)
  3. ^ Boucsein, Wolfram (2013-04-17). Electrodermal Activity. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 1. ISBN 9781475750935.
  4. ^ Martini, Frederic; Bartholomew, Edwin (2001). Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology. San Francisco, California: Benjamin Cummings. p. 263. ISBN 978-0-13-061567-1.
  5. ^ Carlson, Neil (2013). Physiology of Behavior. New York City: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 978-0-205-23939-9.