Definition
Electrodermal activity (EDA) reflects the output of integrated attentional and affective and motivational processes within the central nervous system acting on the body. EDA is a valuable tool in behavioral medicine as a biomarker of individual (state and trait) characteristics of emotional responsiveness, as an index for direct examination of axis of stress-related effects on bodily function, and as a potential avenue of treatment of psychosomatic conditions through biofeedback training. Below is an overview of EDA with examples of its application to behavioral medicine.
Description
What Is Electrodermal Activity?
Electrodermal activity (EDA) is a measure of neurally mediated effects on sweat gland permeability, observed as changes in the resistance of the skin to a small electrical current, or as differences in the electrical potential between different parts of the skin. The EDA signal reflects the action of sympathetic nerve traffic on eccrine sweat glands. There are two...
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Critchley, H., Nagai, Y. (2013). Electrodermal Activity (EDA). In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_13
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