Electrodermal lability and overt aggression: Testing the trait-like nature of skin conductance responses

Abstract

Electrodermal activity (EDA) has been shown to reflect a physiological index of many cognitive processes, such as attention, orientation, and working memory. Crider (2008) has argued that EDA lability may index ability to successfully employ cognitive control so as to down-regulate emotion. We test this model by considering whether EDA lability would relate to emotion-related impulsivity and aggression, as well as cognitive control measured by the antisaccade task in a sample of 221 participants selected for a broad range of internalizing and externalizing syndromes. Baseline EDA was gathered at baseline, and task EDA was gathered during the antisaccade task. Partial correlation models controlled for prosaccade gaze accuracy in considering the association of EDA and antisaccade performance. Emotion-related impulsivity was unrelated to EDA indices. We discuss methodological and conceptual issues with regards to the nonconvergence of psychophysiological (EDA) indices with behavioral and self-report measures, and address challenges in identifying lab-based correlates of longer-term individual differences in aggression or impulsivity.