We say something “gets under our skin” when it elicits an unpleasant or irritating emotional response. This connection between our skin and emotion runs deeper than a simple idiomatic expression, however. Along with performing several critical functions—protective, regulatory, and sensory—our skin provides a window into our physiological and emotional states as we respond to a range of stimuli. Electrodermal Activity (EDA) is the mechanism providing these insights.
EDA, also known as galvanic skin response (GSR), measures eccrine activity resulting from the sympathetic nervous system’s response to environmental stimulation. As a function of the autonomic nervous system, it is an involuntary response to a range of sensory inputs, including touch, sight, sound, odor, and taste. EDA regulates the rate of sweat produced by sweat glands in the extremities, particularly in the fingertips, palms, and soles of the feet.
EDA increases in conjunction with the level of stress or nervousness experienced by an individual. For this reason, it provides researchers with a valuable means of measuring affective response to external stimuli. As we explored in a previous post, affect is the measurable physiological expression of emotion. While there are numerous physiological signals that researchers can employ to measure affect, EDA in particular functions as an indicator of arousal. For this reason, EDA has become one of the most relied upon signals employed by researchers exploring psychophysiological phenomena.
A recent Slovakian study published in Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology illustrates how EDA is commonly employed in such research. Researchers studying the influence of gender differences on reaction to violent imagery used skin conductivity response (SCR), the mechanism behind EDA, to measure levels of arousal when participants were shown images of war and sports. The goal of the study was to test the “male warrior hypothesis” (MWH). The theory suggests that men have evolved psychological mechanisms to form aggressive alliances with the goal of acquiring or protecting reproductive resources in war and that team sports stimulate that same impulse. EDA was measured using BIOPAC electrodes and leads feeding data to an MP36 data acquisition unit. While the study found that visual perception of team sports and war imagery stimulated different levels of excitement as measured by EDA in men and women, it was inconclusive in showing that sports provide a substitute for war in the sample of participants.
A study conducted at the University of Ottawa and published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry used EDA to examine whether response-focused emotion regulation (RF-ER) strategies provided an effective way to control evoked emotions—specifically, does smiling make one feel better in times of heightened stress? EDA data was gathered from participants using a BIOPAC skin conductance transducer and amplifier connected to a BIOPAC data acquisition unit while participants were shown images designed to evoke both arousal and negative responses. Participants were asked to either suppress their emotional response to images or employ expressive dissonance (e.g., smile when disturbed). The results of the study shed doubt on previously held assumptions that RF-ER strategies were effective in controlling emotion.
These are just a sampling of the ways in which EDA is being used in psychophysiological research. For additional information on the background, tools, and techniques for using EDA in your studies, visit our EDA Resource Directory, read our EDA Introductory Guide. and watch Electrodermal Activity: Intro to Recording and Analysis or any of our EDA webinars.
For additional information on how BIOPAC can assist you with your research using EDA and a range of other physiological signals, contact your local sales representative.
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