Workflow: Research Smarter with Automated Routines
You have probably heard the saying “why work harder when you can work smarter?” While this may seem like a cliché, there is no denying that smart work, or what might be more accurately termed “efficient effort,” not only alleviates worker stress but in doing so...
Biopac Student Lab | What I Learned This Summer
A Student’s Perspective Guest post by Ashley F. Like many of my university peers, I wrapped up my freshman year of college working a summer internship in hopes of gaining valuable professional experience. Rather than relaxing on the beach, I occupied my time...
Skin Deep: Using EDA to Measure Affective Response
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,...
Balancing Act: HRV Provides Critical Marker for Psychophysiological Health
Two college wrestlers square off on the mat awaiting the signal that will begin their match. To the casual observer, the outcome seems impossible to predict. Their coach, however, knows one competitor has a clear advantage—a heart rate variability level (HRV) that is...
Silent Partner: Autonomic Function Testing in Research
Like the inner workings of an intricate machine, most of our bodily functions operate with little or no conscious effort. That task falls to the autonomic nervous system, a sort of control system that regulates a wide range of processes, including digestion, heart...
Guilt Trips: Taking Measure of Our Moral Compass
“So full of artless jealousy is guilt, It spills itself in fearing to be spilt” —Gertrude, William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” In Act 4 of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Hamlet’s mother Gertrude points out that the harder one tries to conceal guilt, the easier it is to...
Measuring Moods: Signals for Insight into Emotion
“Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head?” Joy, an anthropomorphized manifestation of happiness, delivers this line at the opening of Pixar’s 2015 animated hit “Inside Out,” a film that explores the emotional struggles of its young...
Baby Blues: Neonatal, Infant, and Toddler Research Challenges
The first five years of a child’s life are marked by considerable change—both physiological and psychological. Young children undergo incremental development in their ability to think and solve problems, their emotions, and their linguistic abilities, to name just a...
Choosing the Right Signal: Easy as 1, 2, 3
In physiology and life sciences, researchers rely on a wide range of signals to gather data from humans and animals. These signals provide critical insight into how complex organisms function under a myriad of conditions. However, this wealth of potential data sources can also present a challenge for researchers: choosing the right signals on which to focus their data gathering. For those lacking a background in the disciplines and mechanisms behind these signals, sifting through the available methodology can be overwhelming. The best place to begin is by considering one or a combination of the “Big Three” physiological signals: ECG, EDA, and respiration.
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