Abstract
Measuring electrodermal activity (EDA) on the wrist with the use of dry electrodes is a promising method to help identify person-specific stressors during prolonged recordings in daily life. While the feasibility of this method has been demonstrated, detailed testing of validity of such ambulatory EDA is scarce. In a controlled laboratory study, we examine SCL and ns.SCR derived from wrist-based dry electrodes (Philips DTI) and palm-based wet electrodes (VU-AMS) in 112 healthy adults (57% females, mean age = 22.3, SD = 3.4) across 26 different conditions involving mental stressors or physical activities. Changes in these EDA measures were compared to changes in the Pre-ejection period (PEP) and stressor-induced changes in affect. Absolute SCL and ns.SCR frequency were lower at the wrist compared to the palm. Wrist-based ns.SCR and palm-based ns.SCR and SCL responded directionally consistent with our experimental manipulation of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. Average within-subject correlations between palm-based and wrist-based EDA were significant but modest (r SCL = 0.31; r ns.SCR = 0.42). Changes in ns.SCR frequency at the palm (r = −0.44) and the wrist (r = −0.36) were correlated with changes in PEP. Both palm-based and wrist based EDA predicted changes in affect (6.5%–14.5%). Our data suggest that wrist-based ns.SCR frequency is a useful addition to the psychophysiologist's toolkit, at least for epidemiology-sized ambulatory studies of changes in sympathetic activity during daily life.
Highlights
The European parliament recognizes mental health as a fundamental human right and launched the EU Action Plan on mental health for 2021–2027, which is a continuation of the World Health Organization's Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 (World Health Organization, 2013)
In a controlled laboratory study, we examine Skin Conductance Level (SCL) and ns.SCR derived from wrist-based dry electrodes (Philips DTI) and palm-based wet electrodes (VU-AMS) in 112 healthy adults (57% females, mean age = 22.3, SD = 3.4) across 26 different conditions involving mental stressors or physical activities
This resulted in a population of 112 participants that could be included in the analyses (57% females, age range = 18–32, mean age = 22.3, SD = 3.4)
Summary
The European parliament recognizes mental health as a fundamental human right and launched the EU Action Plan on mental health for 2021–2027, which is a continuation of the World Health Organization's Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 (World Health Organization, 2013). A practical problem facing ambulatory measurement of EDA is that the typical location for elec trode placement on the fingers or the palms of the hand is quite obtru sive and interferes with daily activities This introduces bias in the behavioral repertoires assessed and increases risk for noisy or lost sig nals. When measuring over longer periods of time the electrolyte gel may gradually spread out on the skin and hydrate the corneum (Bouc sein et al, 2012) This can lead to both an increase in the recording area of the electrode (and observed EDA) and danger of electrode loosening. We hypothesized that changes in the wrist-based EDA measures are predictive of the changes in affect induced by mental stress
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