Eyes Closing and Drowsiness in Human Subjects Decrease Baseline Galvanic Skin Response and Active Palmar Sweating: Relationship Between Galvanic Skin and Palmar Perspiration Responses

Frontiers in Physiology ◽

10.3389/fphys.2020.558047 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Hideya Momose ◽

Norimasa Morimitsu ◽

Eiji Ikeda ◽

Shigeki Kanai ◽

Masao Sakaguchi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Galvanic Skin Response ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Emotional Responses ◽

Self Awareness ◽

Handgrip Exercise ◽

Starting Point ◽

Skin Response ◽

Exercise Induced ◽

Palmar Sweating ◽

Palmar Skin

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.

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Pussy power

Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices ◽

10.1558/jmtp.13781 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 168-184

Author(s):

Kai Huang ◽

Elena Nicoladis

Keyword(s):

Galvanic Skin Response ◽

Emotional Response ◽

First Language ◽

Emotional Responses ◽

Age Of Acquisition ◽

Childhood Experiences ◽

Skin Response ◽

French And English ◽

Taboo Words

Some previous research has suggested that words in multlinguals’ first language, particularly taboo words, evoke a greater emotional response than words in any subsequent language. In the present study, we elicited French-English bilinguals’ emotional responses to words in both languages. We expected taboo words to evoke higher emotional response than positive or negative words in both languages. We tested the hypothesis that the earlier that bilinguals had acquired the language, the higher the emotional responses. French-English bilinguals with long exposure to both French and English participated. Their galvanic skin response (GSR) was measured as they processed positive (e.g., mother), negative (e.g., war) and taboo (e.g., pussy) words in both French and English. As predicted, GSR responses to taboo words were high in both languages. Surprisingly, English taboo words elicited higher GSR responses than French ones and age of acquisition was not related to GSR. We argue that these results are related to the context in which this study took place (i.e., an English majority context). If this interpretation is correct, then bilinguals’ emotional response to words could be more strongly linked to recent emotional interactions than to childhood experiences.

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Effects of Amylobarbitone and Nitrazepam on the Electrodermogram and Other Features of Sleep

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.118.546.519 ◽

1971 ◽

Vol 118 (546) ◽

pp. 519-522 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Ijaz Haider ◽

Ian Oswald

Keyword(s):

High Voltage ◽

Galvanic Skin Response ◽

Electrical Potential ◽

Dorsal Surface ◽

Sensory Stimuli ◽

Naturally Occurring ◽

Stage 4 ◽

Skin Response ◽

Palmar Skin ◽

Very High

The elctrical resistance of the palmar skin, and the naturally-occurring difference in electrical potential between the palm and the dorsal surface of the forearm show simultaneous changes in response to sudden or emotionally-laden sensory stimuli (the ‘galvanic skin response’ or GSR). Spontaneous GSRs occur during wakefulness, especially in anxiety states, but they are reduced by general relaxation and it might be supposed that they would be absent during sleep of uniform EEG appearance. However, Oswald et al. (1959) reported that this was not so and that in sleep with very high voltage slow waves (today generally called Stage 4 sleep) there could be present random spontaneous GSR activity, measured by the potential difference technique. Since these electrical phenomena cannot be related to any known stimulus, to call them galvanic skin responses is inappropriate, and they may better be termed electrodermogram (EDG) activity.

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Adaptation and Conditioning of the Galvanic Skin Response in Psychiatric Patients

Journal of Mental Science ◽

10.1192/bjp.105.441.1102 ◽

1959 ◽

Vol 105 (441) ◽

pp. 1102-1111 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

M. A. Stewart ◽

G. Winokur ◽

J. A. Stern ◽

S. B. Guze ◽

E. Pfeiffer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Galvanic Skin Response ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Psychiatric Patients ◽

Normal Subjects ◽

Conditioned Eyelid ◽

Conditioning Performance ◽

Skin Response

There is a considerable literature dealing with the relation of anxiety to conditioning performance in human subjects. When compared with normal subjects, those with marked anxiety have been observed to show more rapid conditioning and slower extinction of certain responses. Typical observations have been those of Taylor (17) concerning conditioned eyelid responses, and of Welch (20), and Bitterman and Holtzman (3), concerning the galvanic skin response. In contrast, Bindra et al. (2) found no difference in the conditioning of salivary responses between anxious and non-anxious subjects.

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