Abstract
We previously constructed a perspiration ratemeter for the measurement of palmar sweating in human subjects. Although galvanic skin response (GSR) has been used to evaluate emotional responses in human subjects, little is known about the relationships between the phasic and baseline components in GSR and active palmar sweating. From the aforementioned, we aimed to investigate the relationships in human subjects with handgrip exercise and eyes closing or opening. Fifteen healthy volunteers (mean age: 26.9 ± 8.7 years) participated in the present experiments. We investigated the effects of maximal handgrip exercise, eyes closing or opening, and self-awareness of drowsy on the GSR, active palmar sweating, R-R interval in electrocardiograph (ECG), and percentage of α wave in EEG. The faster phasic component in GSR completely agreed with the starting point of active palmar sweating. Handgrip exercise induced significantly faster spike in GSR, active palmar sweating, and decrease in R-R interval in ECG. Eyes closing produced significant decreases in baseline GSR and active palmar sweating in all human subjects. The percentage of α wave in electroencephalograph (EEG) also increased. In contrast, eyes opening increased significantly the baseline GSR and active palmar sweating. In the equivalent electrical model of human skin, the eyes closing–mediated time-dependent decrease in the baseline GSR completely agreed with the hypothesis that the palmar skin voltage only in the model decreased time dependently to 0.4 of the control during 6 min. The self-awareness of drowsy in mid-night working with computer produced similar decreases in baseline GSR and active palmar sweating to the responses with eyes closing in all human subjects. In conclusion, the faster spike in GSR completely agreed with the starting point of active palmar sweating. Eyes closing and opening or self-awareness of drowsy significantly produced changes in baseline GSR and active palmar sweating, which may become useful tools for evaluating clearness or drowsiness in human subjects.
Highlights
We designed and constructed a high-sensitivity perspiration ratemeter using capacitive humidity sensors which is applicable to the direct measurement of palmar sweating in human subjects (Ohhashi et al, 1998)
(4) Eyes closing in human subjects induced a significant time-dependent decrease in the baseline galvanic skin response (GSR); in contrast, eyes opening produced a significant increase in the baseline GSR in all subjects
(7) The self-awareness drowsy during mid-night working induced a similar decrease in the baseline GSR and increase in the percentage of α wave in EEG to those observed with eyes closing in all subjects
Summary
We designed and constructed a high-sensitivity perspiration ratemeter using capacitive humidity sensors which is applicable to the direct measurement of palmar sweating in human subjects (Ohhashi et al, 1998). Galvanic skin response (GSR) is well known to reflect changes in the electrical properties between palm and forearm skin in human subjects, which are produced by noxious and emotional stimulation, and aroused alertness (Darrow, 1927, 1937; Edelberg, 1977; Fowles, 1986; Denda et al, 2001; Boucsein, 2012). The stimulation-mediated phasic component of GSR agreed with the increase in electrical conductance of the skin (a decrease in resistance) between palm and forearm in human subjects (Darrow, 1927, 1937; Edelberg, 1977; Fowles, 1986; Denda et al, 2001: Boucsein, 2012). The mechanisms of changes in tonic baseline levels of GSR still remain unsolved
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