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Psychogalvanic reflex and changes in electrical parameters of dry skin

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Abstract

The change in electrical characteristics of the skin owing to the psychogalvanic reflex has been investigated. The importance of using parallel values of admittance data is underlined because sweat-duct conductivity is anatomically in parallel with the rest of the skin. The response has been found to be mainly conductive, but small capacitive changes can appear. The effect of conductivefilm formation on the inside of the duct walls is discussed and emphasised. It is postulated that the dorsal side of the hand is as reflex-sensitive as palmar sites, but the lack of continuous sweat-gland activity and the conductive duct-wall films of dry skin often make the response disappear on nonpalmar skin sites. GSR on non-palmar skin sites can be a source of error if not adequately considered because just a deep breath may double skin conductance in seconds. To explain the rapid, positive waves often seen in the skin-potential response a new theory based upon electrokinetic phenomena is proposed.

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Grimnes, S. Psychogalvanic reflex and changes in electrical parameters of dry skin. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 20, 734–740 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02442528

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