Glossary // Glossary term Technical
Baseline
A reference measurement taken before or outside the condition of interest, against which change is evaluated. Physiological signals differ greatly between people and between moments, so a value such as skin conductance or heart rate variability is interpretable mainly relative to a person's own baseline recorded under comparable conditions. Methodological recommendations therefore specify the duration, posture and context of baseline recordings. How one could reason about recording a catharsis-like change of state: signals, features, inference and context, baselines, self-report, error costs and ethics, and why every step stays uncertain. Nothing on this site measures anyone. The works the definition rests on, with the level of evidence each was appraised at. (2017). Heart rate variability and cardiac vagal tone in psychophysiological research: Recommendations for experiment planning, data analysis, and data reporting. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00213 Supports the claims that HRV indexes cardiac vagal tone and that its findings are easily misconstrued without careful design, analysis and reporting. Methods guidance, not evidence about emotion categories. (2012). Electrodermal activity. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-1126-0 Supports technical statements about how electrodermal activity is recorded and what it indexes. Expert synthesis, not a test of any single claim.Where the site uses it
Studies behind it