The Rationale for Treating the Change in Galvanic Skin Response as a Change in Conductance

ABSTRACT The purpose of this report is to account for differences in measures of sweating, resistance, skin potential, and conductivity at high and low levels of bodily excitation by simultaneous measurement of the variables and to explain why conductance provides a satisfactory over‐all measure. Relations between simultaneously recorded sweat, resistance, skin potential and conductance changes are shown graphically. Two distinctly different response processes occurring respectively at high and low levels of resistance are seen to overlap in the middle range. Together the resistance measurement of these two widely different levels span the gamut of reactivity from the low to the higher levels of bodily excitation. The differing magnitudes of the measures of these two reactive phenomena can be meaningfully combined in, and quantitatively represented on a single scale of measurement when using units of conductance. Electrodermal, GSR, Sweat, Resistance, Potential, Conductance, Skin, Emotion, Response, Anxiety, Tension, Excitation, Reactivity. (C. W. Darrow)