Glossary // Glossary term Technical
Electrodermal activity
Changes in the electrical properties of the skin, usually measured as skin conductance, which reflect eccrine sweat gland activity under sympathetic control. It is widely used as an index of physiological arousal and orienting responses. Electrodermal activity does not indicate whether a state is pleasant or unpleasant, and it is also affected by temperature, movement and individual differences, so it cannot by itself identify a specific emotion. Affective computing promises to infer emotion as if it were a system metric. The evidence on facial movements and autonomic signals, together with questions of consent, explains why every metric in this artifact is an artistic value. 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. (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. (2010). Autonomic nervous system activity in emotion: A review. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.03.010 Reports considerable autonomic response specificity when emotion subtypes are considered. It is never cited as evidence against autonomic fingerprints; it is cited only as a partial counterpoint to Siegel et al. (2018), and claims citing both must say so.Where the site uses it
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