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Electrodermal Activity in Patients With Chronic Pain: Implications for the Specificity of Physiological Indices in Relation to Psychopathology
Author(s) -
Carr Vaughan,
Minniti Rinaldo,
Pilowsky Issy
Publication year - 1985
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.1469-8986.1985.tb01588.x
Subject(s) - skin conductance , habituation , psychology , orienting response , tonic (physiology) , arousal , psychopathology , psychogenic disease , audiology , chronic pain , developmental psychology , neuroscience , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , biomedical engineering
Abnormalities in skin conductance activity have been described for several psychiatric conditions. To date, few comparable investigations have been undertaken in patients who suffer from chronic pain syndromes in which psychogenic factors are operating. Skin conductance measurements were made using an orienting response paradigm in a sample of 100 such patients with chronic pain. The distribution of skin conductance responding/non‐responding was bimodal. Significant relationships were found between orienting response categories or trials to habituation, and several other skin conductance variables, such as spontaneous responses, tonic level, response amplitude, and certain temporal characteristics of the orienting response. It was concluded that anomalies in the distribution of skin conductance responding are diagnostically non‐specific and that orienting response categories are likely to be more or less arbitrary divisions on an ‘arousal’ continuum.