Skin Resistance Level Research Articles

Impact of regular cold exposure on electrical skin resistance in patients with joint degenerative diseases.

Common features in chronic inflammatory disease patients (CIDP) are inflammation, mental stress (MS), and autonomic nervous system imbalance. Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) exposure and regular physical exercise are known to regulate these features. In this study, we assessed the impact of regular physical exercise and the use of WBC exposure in CIDP on the level of electrical skin resistance (SR) to evaluate the skin sympathetic nervous activity and and estimate MS levels. SR was evaluated before and after a 10-day-period of daily physical exercise preceded or not by WBC (3 min at -110°C) in two groups of 134 CIDP (WBC vs. non-WBC groups). At baseline, the number of severe MS patients was similar in both groups. However, after the training period, the number of severe MS patients significantly decreased in the WBC group, only. An increase in SR (a decrease in stress level) was noted in the WBC group only, and such increase was higher in men than in women and in patients younger than 60 versus patients older than 60 years old. The use of daily WBC combined with physical exercise induced physiological adaptations and lowered the sympathetic nervous activity that may reflect a reduced level of MS in CIDP. These adaptations seem to depend on gender and age.

Drowsiness Detection using Galvanic Skin Response and Electro-occulograph

Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) is widely used in psychological applications, mostly stress detection. Hence, people always put a limitation on GSR for stress detection only. Therefore, the challenge in this study is to expand the usage of GSR in drowsiness detection. Workers, students and drivers face a sleep deprivation problem due to never-ending work. Hence, this drowsiness detection is needed to detect the drowsiness to prevent unforeseen accidents from occurring. However, existing GSR application on sleep deprivation detection needs to improve with data reliability since the recording always took place on the wrist, and an external source like hand movements may influence the reading. Therefore, another drowsiness detection method is needed for reliable data or tasks. Hence, this study aims to detect GSR and EOG from behind the ear. The earpiece has been designed to make data recording of both GSR and EOG easier. By doing so, this study able to detect the skin conductance response (SCR) and skin resistance level (SCL) of GSR also eye activity which reflect the drowsiness seen from behind the ear of the user. The study found that the SCR and SCL levels increase with increasing sleepiness or drowsiness. Moreover, EOG shows a sudden spike in the signal when the user is in a drowsy state.

Assessing the association between subjective evaluation of space qualities and physiological responses through cinematic environments' emotion-eliciting stimuli.

Human perception of the built environment affects emotional and physiological states. This research focused on the association between evaluating a space's visual qualities and physiological responses by mediating film contents to indicate the association between physiological indicators and assessing the quality of space in the presence of environmental stimuli. Data collection was conducted using a psychological questionnaire and physiological indicators of heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), skin resistance level (SRL), and body temperature (BT) during the film screening. The ANOVA was conducted to compare different variables in the three films alongside linear regression to analyze the impact of variables on space quality. Spearman correlation coefficient analyses were performed to find the association between variables. The descriptive statistics showed significant changes in psychological and physiological variables in films. Associations between the NAQ factor and physiological changes in HR, SBP, and DBP factors were significant. The results derived from the simple and multiple linear regressions depicted the significant impact of physiological factors on HR and BP on perceiving the quality of space. It was concluded that physiological changes caused by emotional arousal could be strongly associated with psychological assessments. Stimuli-affected video contents illustrating architectural spaces could efficiently extract the impact of physiological states and human cognitive responses to the space quality. Physiological characteristics related to the space appraisal could help realize the human-environment interaction in a multi-layered approach to the built environment and spatial cognition.

The Electrodermal Activity in Rats with Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation causes a wide range of cognitive deficits like impairments in vigilance, memory and physiological processes. To our knowledge, few chronic sleep deprivation studies have related the possible electrodermal activity (EDA) changes that show sympathetic activation. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of a 21-days sleep deprivation on EDA and neurobehavioral changes in open field area. The study was occurred with young and young adult Wistar Albino rats in Physiology laboratoryof Erciyes University Medical Faculty. The rats were randomly divided in six groups in total as a sleep deprivation group, pedestal control group and cages control group, and three of aged-matched groups. The skin resistance levels (SRL) and skin resistance response (SRR) were significantly decreased in substantive level in young and young adults sleep deprivation groups according to control groups. In open field test evaluations in young and young adult sleep deprivation groups significant increase in the number of crossline, rear and defecation. Sleep deprivation caused a decline in the electrodermal activity due to giving rise to increase in sympathetic tonus and anxiety in young and young adult rats.

Changes in autonomic variables following two meditative states described in yoga texts.

In ancient yoga texts there are two meditative states described. One is dharana, which requires focusing, the second is dhyana, during which there is no focusing, but an expansive mental state is reached. While an earlier study did show improved performance in an attention task after dharana, the autonomic changes during these two states have not been studied. Autonomic and respiratory variables were assessed in 30 healthy male volunteers (group mean age ± SD, 29.1 ± 5.1 years) during four mental states described in traditional yoga texts. These four mental states are random thinking (cancalata), nonmeditative focusing (ekagrata), meditative focusing (dharana), and effortless meditation (dhyana). Assessments were made before (5 minutes), during (20 minutes), and after (5 minutes), each of the four states, on four separate days. During dhyana there was a significant increase in the skin resistance level (p<0.001; post hoc analysis following ANOVA, during compared to pre) and photo-plethysmogram amplitude (p<0.05), whereas there was a significant decrease in the heart rate (p<0.001) and breath rate (p<0.001). There was a significant decrease in the low frequency (LF) power (p<0.001) and increase in the high frequency (HF) power (p<0.001) in the frequency domain analysis of the heart rate variability (HRV) spectrum, on which HF power is associated with parasympathetic activity. There was also a significant increase in the NN50 count (the number of interval differences of successive NN intervals greater than 50 ms; p<0.001) and the pNN50 (the proportion derived by dividing NN50 by the total number of NN intervals; p<0.001) in time domain analysis of HRV, both indicative of parasympathetic activity. Maximum changes were seen in autonomic variables and breath rate during the state of effortless meditation (dhyana). The changes were all suggestive of reduced sympathetic activity and/or increased vagal modulation. During dharana there was an increase in skin resistance. The changes in HRV during ekagrata and cancalata were inconclusive.

Evaluation of Textile Electrodes for Electrotherapy

This study evaluates the suitability of new textile electrodes manufactured by Textilforschungsinstitut Thuringen-Vogtland e. V. (TITV). This open, controlled trial included 25 healthy young volunteers. New textile electrodes and conventional adhesive electrodes were compared. Therefore, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), medium-frequency neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), and EMG-triggered stimulation was conducted on the participant’s thighs. The discomfort experienced was rated on the visual analogue scale (VAS). Change in skin resistance level (SRL), skin temperature and pain pressure threshold (PPT) was measured. The current intensity used for effective stimulation was noted, and the participants were asked for their preferred type of electrodes. Initially, textile electrodes are less comfortable and SRL and skin temperature are lower. The changes in surrogates, if present, do not differ between textile or adhesive electrodes. The textile electrodes evaluated in this study can generally be used for TENS, NMES, and EMG biofeedback therapy. To allow proper stimulation, the electrodes have to be wetted and applied with pressure. Wetting and applying with pressure are disadvantages that should be improved in further prototypes.

Rubber dam use less stressful for children and dentists

Randomised controlled trial, single centre and operator. 72 patients (6-16 years) assessed as compliant, with no allergies, not on significant medication were divided into two groups by 'drawing sealed lots'. 234 fully erupted teeth were sealed. Molars and/or premolars were sealed dependant on age. Teeth were pre-cleaned with prophy paste. In the controls, teeth were isolated with buccal and lingual cotton rolls and salivary ejector in the intervention group a rubber dam was used. The same etching, rinsing and placement protocol was used in both arms. Outcomes were: patients' subjective measures of pain using a visual analogue scale; blood pressure (before and after treatment), breath rate, pulse rate and skin resistance at five time points. The operator's pulse rate was measured and they completed a questionnaire on subjective mental and physical stress following treatment. Treatment times were recorded. The breath rate was significantly (P < 0.05) lower and the skin resistance level was significantly higher during treatment with rubber dam compared to the control group. Subjective pain perception was significantly lower for the test group. The treatment time needed for the fissure sealing procedure was 12.4% less in the test group. The authors state; '... in the hands of an experienced dentist, isolation with rubber dam is less stressful for children and adolescents than isolation with cotton rolls, and can save valuable treatment time.' The operator's stress measures were lower with rubber dam and treatment time was reduced.

Influence of rubber dam on objective and subjective parameters of stress during dental treatment of children and adolescents – a randomized controlled clinical pilot study

Rubber dam is recommended for isolating the working field during adhesive dentistry procedures; however, dentists often omit rubber dam, particularly in paediatric dentistry, supposing that it would stress the patient. The aim of this study was to evaluate stress parameters during a standardized dental treatment procedure performed with or without rubber dam. The treatment time was measured as a secondary outcome variable. This study was designed as a randomized, controlled, clinical study with 72 patients (6-16 years; mean age, 11.1). During standardized fissure sealing procedures, objective parameters of stress (e.g., skin resistance, breath rate) were recorded. The operator's stress level was measured by pulse rate. Subjective pain (patients) and stress perception (operator) were evaluated by an interview. The breath rate was significantly (P<0.05) lower and the skin resistance level was significantly higher during treatment with rubber dam compared to the control group. Subjective pain perception was significantly lower for the test group. The treatment time needed for the fissure sealing procedure was 12.4% less in the test group. Isolation with rubber dam caused less stress in children and adolescents compared to relative isolation with cotton rolls if applied by an experienced dentist.

Relationship between skin resistance level and static balance in type II diabetic subjects

Diabetes mellitus is major cause leading to pathological changes in skin foot plantar area (SFPA) and affected the static standing balance duration (SSBD). Skin resistance level (SRL) is related to skin conductance which changes in the presence of sweat. This study aims to find out the relationship between the SRL and SSBD in type II diabetic patients. Sixty-eight voluntary students, 30 type II diabetic patients and 30 healthy non-diabetic subjects, were participated to the study. The SSBD was measured on dominant and non-dominant legs. SRLs were recorded with two surface electrodes over the metatarsus heads and heel. The SSBD of the healthy young group was found to be higher than the other groups ( P < 0.001). The SRL values of the non-dominant leg in the diabetic group was found to be lower than the others ( P = 0.014). For dominant and non-dominant legs within each group, only the healthy young group has statistically difference ( P = 0.012). A significant correlation was seen to be between the SRL and SSBD for only healthy non-diabetic group for the non-dominant leg. The relation between the SRL and SSBD is poor but very promising. Measurement of the SRL can be used in evaluating the inflammation of the diabetic foot.

Psychophysiological Indicators of Stress Reactivity in Adolescent Psychiatric Patients with Dissociative Symptomatology

Background: Thus far, possible neurobiological underpinnings of dissociative symptomatology have not been studied sufficiently. We studied the reactivity of the autonomous nervous system to a non-specific laboratory stressor in a clinical group of adolescents with dissociative symptomatology. Sampling and Methods: The effects of an attentional task, administered with and without noise, on heart rate, skin resistance and the level of subjective distress were studied in 2 groups of 19 and 20 adolescent psychiatric patients with high and low degrees of self-reported dissociative symptoms as measured by the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale, respectively. Results: Patients with a high degree of dissociative symptoms demonstrated significantly larger changes in heart rate during the attentional task, while the noise had no effect on heart rate. Additional noise led to an increase in skin resistance levels and subjective distress in both groups. Conclusions: The results of the current study provide preliminary evidence that the intensity of the stress response represents a sensitivity to stress which may correlate with the exacerbation and fluctuation of dissociative symptomatology.

Neuroendocrine responses to psychological stress in eumenorrheic and oligomenorrheic women

Neuroendocrine adaptive responses to psychological stress include activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and sometimes suppression of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axis. In women who experience chronic stress, these responses are probably responsible for disturbances in the menstrual cycle. In the present experiment, we investigated the effect of an acutely stressful situation on the physiological and neuroendocrine responses in college age women. We hypothesized that females who are experiencing some degree of abnormal menstrual function or women who have less-robust cycles (oligomenorrheic females) would exhibit differences in gonadotropin secretion from eumenorrheic females when exposed to psychological stressors. Fifteen women completed this study: eumenorrheic (n = 5) and oligomenorrheic women (n = 5) who experienced a series of psychological stressors, and eumenorrheic controls (n = 5). Blood samples were taken at 10 min intervals for 8 h (09:00–17:00) in each woman during the mid-follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. The psychological stressors were administered for 1 h beginning at 13:00 h. Luteinizing hormone (LH), growth hormone (GH) and cortisol were measured in each sample to assess the effect of stress on secretion of these hormones. Deconvolution analysis was used to analyze pulsatile hormone secretion and the approximate entropy (ApEn) statistic analyzed the regularity of release of each hormone. Although, there were significant changes in heart rate (HR), skin resistance (SR) and cortisol levels in the stressed women during the psychological stressor compared to resting baseline values but not in the controls, there was no difference in either LH or GH secretion between women who experienced stress and those who did not. Furthermore, there were no differences in the LH or GH secretion patterns in the oligomenorrheic and eumenorrheic women exposed to the psychological stressor.

The psychophsiology of aggressive drivers: comparison to non-aggressive drivers and pre- to post-treatment change following a cognitive-behavioural treatment

Twenty drivers were remanded to our treatment program by the courts following arrests related to serious aggressive driving behaviors. Ten additional drivers entered our program in response to our advertisements thus identifying themselves as aggressive drivers. Psychophysiological assessments were conducted on all 30 drivers and heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), and skin resistance level (SRL) were measured in response to exposure to a mental arithmetic neutral stressor, two idiosyncratic, audio-taped, aggressive driving vignettes (audio 1 and audio 2), and one non-driving related fearful vignette. Fourteen non-aggressive driving controls also completed the assessment. The results indicated that the aggressive drivers (ADs) showed significantly more SBP responsivity during audio 1 and audio 2 and significantly less SBP reactivity during the mental arithmetic stressor than the controls. The aggressive drivers then completed a four-week, group intervention which included relaxation techniques specifically targeting aggressive driving behaviors. The same psychophysiological assessment was conducted at post-treatment. The results showed significant pre- to post-treatment decreases in HR, p<0.003, SBP, p<0.01, and DBP, p<0.02 during audio 1. Similarly, decreases were evident in audio 2 in SBP, p<0.03 only. No decreases in reactivity occurred during the neutral stressor or fearful situation.

Time estimation during prolonged sleep deprivation and its relation to activation measures.

This is the first study to analyze variations in time estimation during 60 h of sleep deprivation and the relation between time estimation performance and the activation measures of skin resistance level, body temperature, and Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) scores. Among 30 healthy participants 18 to 24 years of age, for a 10-s interval using the production method, we found a lengthening in time estimations that was modulated by circadian oscillations. No differences in gender were found in the time estimation task during sleep deprivation. The variations in time estimation correlated significantly with body temperature, skin resistance level, and SSS throughout the sleep deprivation period. When body temperature is elevated, indicating a high level of activation, the interval tends to be underestimated, and vice versa. When the skin resistance level or SSS is elevated (low activation), time estimation is lengthened, and vice versa. This lengthening is important because many everyday situations involve duration estimation under moderate to severe sleep loss. Actual or potential applications of this research include transportation systems, emergency response work, sporting activities, and industrial settings in which accuracy in anticipation or coincidence timing is important for safety or efficiency.

Electrodermal activity during total sleep deprivation and its relationship with other activation and performance measures

The present study analyses the variations of the skin resistance level (SRL) during 48 h of total sleep deprivation (TSD) and its relationship to body temperature, self-informed sleepiness in the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS), and reaction time (RT). All of the variables were evaluated every 2 h except for the SSS, which was evaluated every hour. A total of 30 healthy subjects (15 men and 15 women) from 18 to 24 years old participated in the experiment. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with TSD days and time-of-day as factors showed a substantial increase of SRL, SSS, and RT, and a decrease in body temperature marked by strong circadian oscillations. The interaction between day by time-of-day was only significant for RT. Furthermore, Pearson's correlations showed that the increase of SRL is associated to the decrease in temperature (mean r=-0.511), the increase of SSS (mean r=0.509), and the deterioration of RT (mean r=0.425). The results support previous TSD reports and demonstrate the sensitivity of SRL to TSD. The non-invasive character of SRL, its simplicity, and its relationships with other activation parameters, widely validated by previous literature, convert SRL into an interesting and useful measure in this field.

HEMISPHERIC MODULATORY INFLUENCE ON SKIN RESISTANCE RESPONSE LATENCY: UNILATERAL STIMULATION, BILATERAL RECORDING

In order to evaluate the bilateral asymmetries in evoked electrodermal activity (EDA) and the use of EDA parameters as indices of relative hemispheric activation, skin resistance level (SRL), skin resistance response (SRR), and the SRR latency (L) were examined in 25 right-handed male subjects. We used bilateral recording with a unilateral stimulation (auditory click/patellar tendon tap) to assess the asymmetries of EDA variables related to the side of stimulation and to handedness. Although no significant asymmetry in C = SRRmax/SRL ratio was found, significant differences in latency were observed. Ipsilateral responses were 100 ms faster than contralateral responses for auditory stimulus, a result that can be explained in terms of contralateral delay of neuronal communication on EDA-l pathway. Response latency to reflex-motor activation was 60-100 ms shorter in the dominant hand, regardless of the stimulation site used. This result indicates that the reaction time of the EDA-2 pathway of the left hemisphere was shorter than the right for right-handed subjects. It is concluded that there is hemispheric asymmetry on EDA-2 pathway and that this asymmetry appears to be dependent on the preferred dexterity. These results have implications for the influence of both central and peripheral factors on EDA laterality and principally on laterality of response amplitude. Further, there is no single cortical mechanism modulating the asymmetries in the latency of this response.

Psychophysiological Correlates of Virtual Reality: A Review

The recording and measurement of central and peripheral nervous system responses can provide important information during the development and the application of virtual reality (VR). Although studies on electroencephalographic, evoked potentials, and peripheral psychophysiological changes in connection with VR exposure are still preliminary, they show that reliable data can be obtained even in immersive VR conditions. There is no firm evidence that neurophysiological equipment—sensors and cables—may increase subjects' discomfort and affect their ability to interact with the virtual environments, but additional study is needed to clarify this issue. Suggestions as to how to limit potential interferences are summarized here. Two main lines of research are emerging: one seeking psychophysiological correlates of reaction and adaptation to stimuli and task variables in an attempt to understand more about human-VR interaction, and the other looking for ways to use psychophysiological responses to automatically control aspects of the virtual environments or other external devices. The main results emerging from the first group of studies indicate that psychophysiological measures of brain activity—notably EEG and event-related responses—may be used to distingush between automatic and controlled modes of processing. Additionally, peripheral measures, notably skin-resistance levels, are proposed as objective correlates of presence and of the outcome of specific VR-based desensitization therapies. There is no clear-cut evidence that brain waves may index unwanted effects on the central nervous system of VR exposure, but this issue deserves further study. The results of the second line of research seem to indicate that VR-induced psychophysiological responses can be used to develop assistive devices for people with disabilities or to control hands-free interaction within any virtual environment (for example, in highly demanding conditions). A related and promising field of application is that of neurofeedback, wherein VR may play an important role in increasing the motivational/ attentional span of clients, and, ultimately, the effectiveness of treatment protocols. Given these premises, it is suggested that research on psychophysiological correlates of VR should be incremented along the lines already delineated and possibly include also groups of subjects at risk for adverse affects.

Psychophysiological assessment of compulsive gamblers' arousal to gambling cues: a pilot study.

Psychophysiological assessments measuring heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and skin resistance level were conducted on 7 male compulsive gamblers and on 7 age and gender matched controls while both groups performed mental arithmetic and listened to individualized tapes of the gamblers' preferred form of gambling and an individualized fear tape. Heart rate responses of the gamblers to the 2 gambling audiotapes were significantly greater than those found for the controls whereas the groups did not differ on mental arithmetic or the fear provoking scene, confirming some degree of cue-specific arousal in gamblers. The other physical responses did not yield such strong results. If physiological arousal provides the motivational basis for gambling and is maintained on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement, the findings may have implications for the treatment of compulsive gambling.

Emotional reactivity to social-evaluative stress: genderdifferences in response systems concordance

Under social-evaluative stress, self-reported anxiety (cognitive and somatic),behavioural anxiety (motor, facial, verbal and social), physiological arousal (heart rate and skinresistance level), and task performance (cognitive and motor) were recorded. There was low, buttheoretically meaningful, concordance across response systems: significant relationshipsappeared among measures of cognitive aspects, and among those concerned with somaticaspects, but not between these two areas. Furthermore, concordance was higher in females thanin males specifically between the two response systems that can be voluntarily controlled (i.e.,self-report and behaviour) and the noncontrollable system (i.e., physiological arousal). Thesedifferences in concordance as a function of gender are explained in terms of emotional responsesuppression or masking in males.

Ginger2: an environment for computer-aided empirical software engineering

Empirical software engineering can be viewed as a series of actions to obtain knowledge and a better understanding about some aspects of software development, given a set of problem statements in the form of issues, questions or hypotheses. Experience has made us aware of the criticality of integrating the various types of data that are collected and analyzed as well as the criticality of integrating the various types of activities that take place, such as experiment design and the experiment itself. This has led us to develop a Computer-Aided Empirical Software Engineering (CAESE) framework to support the empirical software engineering lifecycle. The paper first presents the CAESE framework that consists of three elements: (1) a process model for the lifecycle of empirical software engineering studies, including needs analysis, experiment design, actual experimentation, and analyzing and packaging results; (2) a model that helps empirical software engineers decide how to look at the world to be studied in a coherent manner; (3) an architecture, based on which CAESE environments can be built, consisting of tool sets for each phase of the process model, a process management mechanism, and the two types of integration mechanism that are vital for handling multiple types of data: data integration and control integration. Next, the paper describes the Ginger2 environment as an instantiation of our framework. It concludes with reports on case studies using Ginger2, which dealt with a variety of empirical data types including mouse and keystrokes, eye traces, 3D movement, skin resistance level, and videotaped data.

Transient decrease in skin resistance response and level at the deh-chi stage caused by manual acupuncture.

Deh-chi is described as a kind of soreness, numbness, or heavy swelling in deep tissues during manual acupuncture. This finding is important in acupuncture therapy, although the mechanism of this phenomenon remains unclear. Skin resistance response (SRR) and skin resistance level (SRL) are expressed as a component of alternating current and direct current changes in electrodermal activity (EDA) respectively. In the present study, we recorded SRR and SRL, skin blood flow and perspiration simultaneously in an attempt to determine the relationship between skin sympathetic nerve activity and EDA at the deh-chi stage. We found that SRR, SRL and skin blood flow decrease, and that perspiration increases transiently at the deh-chi stage. Our findings indicate that manual acupuncture causes an increase in vasomotor and sudomotor activities, a decrease in skin blood flow, and increased perspiration. These SRR and SRL recordings may be taken as an indicator of deh-chi.