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Stimulus Specificity of Electrodermal Recovery Time: An Examination and Reinterpretation of The Evidence
Author(s) -
Bundy Robert S.,
Fitzgerald Hiram E.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1975.tb00012.x
Subject(s) - psychology , skin conductance , stimulus (psychology) , audiology , reinterpretation , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , medicine , physics , acoustics , biomedical engineering
ABSTRACT Two experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that skin conductance response recovery time can be (a) independent of other electodermal measures and (b) responsive in particular stimulus manipulations when other measures of electrodermal activity are not Experiment I employed a reaction time task. The results indicated that recovery time discriminated between the warning and execution signals only when the number of responses in the intertrial interval and preparatory interval differed. For those subjects who responded only to the signals, the recovery lime was strongly correlated with the time since the previous response. In Experiment II each subject was presented three different stimulus conditions (mirror tracing, rest, and pressor). The recovery time did not discriminate between the stimulus conditions differently than other electrodermal measures. The results of these experiments suggest that the recovery time primarily reflects the amount of previous responding and is not independent of other electrodermal measures.