Background/aim: Presently, electrodermal activity (EDA) is the preferred term for

Accurate assessment of experienced pain is a well-known problem in the clinical practices. Therefore, a proper method for pain detection is highly desirable. Electrodermal activity (EDA) is known as a measure of the sympathetic nervous system activity, which changes during various mental stresses. As pain causes mental stress, EDA measures may reflect the felt pain. This study aims to evaluate changes in skin conductance responses (SCRs), skin potential responses (SPRs), and skin susceptance responses (SSRs) simultaneously as a result of sequences of electrical (painful) stimuli with different intensities. EDA responses as results of painful stimuli were recorded from 40 healthy volunteers. The stimuli with three different intensities were produced by using an electrical stimulator. EDA responses significantly changed (increased) with respect to the intensity of the stimuli. Both SCRs and SSRs showed linear relationship with the painful stimuli. It was found that the EDA responses, particularly SCRs (p < 0.001) and SSRs (p = 0.001) were linearly affected by the intensity of the painful stimuli. EDA responses, in particular SCRs, may be used as a useful indicator for assessment of experienced pain in clinical settings.

Background/Aim: Electrodermal activity (EDA) is a widely used measure in psychophysiological research, and its use in wearable devices has grown in recent times. It is recommended to have proper conditions for EDA measurement, and skin hydration is one factor that has a significant influence. It is, however, not known to what extent the ambient humidity influences the recording. This study explored the influence of relative humidity (RH) on EDA levels, and also the responses using a new technique for simultaneous recording of all measures of EDA: skin conductance (SC), skin susceptance (SS), and skin potential (SP) at the same skin site. Methods: A total of 10 healthy subjects were exposed to environments of low and high RH while EDA measures were recorded, including cognitive, visual and breathing stimuli for evoking electrodermal responses of different origin. EDA levels and responses were compared between the two humidity levels for all stimuli and all EDA measures. Results: It was found that EDA levels, in particular for SC and SS, were significantly increased during high humidity exposure, but that the change in EDA responses (SC, SS, and SP) was not statistically significant (p > 0.05, paired t test). Conclusion: This suggests that ambient humidity influences the recording of EDA levels and is important to consider when these parameters are used, but is not important in the recording or analysis of EDA responses.

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Electrodermal activity (EDA) is a sensitive measure of the sympathetic nervous system activity. It is used to describe changes in the skin electrical properties. This chapter aimed to show advantages of simultaneous recordings of EDA parameters at the same skin site over other recordings. The literature databases, Web of Science and Google Scholar, were searched using terms like "electrodermal activity," "sequential recording," "simultaneous recording," "skin conductance," "skin potential," and "skin susceptance." Articles that include sequential and/or simultaneous recording of EDA parameters were analyzed. The chapter presents a description of the oldest and current methods used for recording EDA parameters and an explanation of the newest techniques used in EDA researches. Although sequential recordings are predominant and widely spreading, much effort has been made to simultaneously record skin conductance (SC) and skin potential (SP), and recently researchers realized the capability of simultaneously recording SC, SP, and skin susceptance (SS) at the same skin site. The advantage of simultaneous over the sequence measurements is that the latter must be manually time realigned when measured by different instruments, which means it is time-consuming. Although the simultaneous measurements are used exclusively for research purposes at this stage, this may open horizons in the modern trends of psychophysiology applications in the near future.

Electrodermal activity (EDA) is originated from activation of the sweat glands in response to physiological arousal or stress. EDA is strongly linked with the sympathetic nervous system activity; therefore, it is widely used in physiological measurements. EDA parameters, particularly skin conductance (SC), are used in a wide range of scientific domains, including psychophysiology, 1 stress assessment, 2,3 sweating estimation, 4 nerve blocking assessment, 5,6 and pain monitoring. 7 Skin conductance is composed of tonic (SCL) and phasic (SCRs) components. Tonic components are slow-changing SC in response to nonspecific stimuli, whereas phasic components are fast variations in SC in response to specific stimuli. 8,9 SCRs are directly