Summary
Objectives:
In this work the effect of quasi-stationary movements on the electrodermal activity
(EDA) after a startle event has been investigated and evaluated. In previous EDA research
there is a discrepancy between the use of controlled environment studies and daily
life surveys. This paper aims to address this by expanding the knowledge about EDA
in real life applications.
Methods:
A minimally obtrusive body-worn measurement device was designed and produced that
simultaneously records EDA and finger movements. During this study, five subjects
walked at different speeds and listened to startling sound events. The EDA response
to these startle events was analyzed for different walking speeds using crosscorrelograms
and cumulative frequency plots.
Results:
The measured response to the startle event is consistent with the signal characteristics
described in the literature. The results show that the faster a person is walking
the more the signal property of the phasic part of the EDA is approaching a uniform
distribution. However, even at a walking speed of 6 km/h the effect of the startle
event is statistically still visible in the EDA (p <0.05).
Conclusions:
The presented work offers a good understanding of the EDA while walking at different
speeds. Although the artefacts evoked by walking cannot be determined directly, information
on the movement can be useful. Depending on the walking speed a measurement about
the reliability of peak detection could be introduced.
Keywords
Galvanic skin response - startle reaction - artifacts
