Graded mental effort increased signal complexity in both galvanic skin response and facial electromyography, with more pronounced changes observed for GSR than for EMG.
Cross-Sectional (n=30)
Does graded mental effort influence the signal complexity and joint dynamics of galvanic skin response (GSR) and facial electromyography (EMG) in healthy adults?
Complexity-based analysis of galvanic skin response and facial EMG signals shows coordinated autonomic and somatic responses that may serve as markers for cognitive workload.
This study examined how cognitive load influences the joint dynamics of galvanic skin response (GSR) and facial electromyography (EMG) during graded mental effort. Thirty healthy adults completed four levels of mental-arithmetic tasks while GSR and facial EMG signals were recorded. Signal complexity was quantified using fractal dimension, sample entropy, and approximate entropy. Complexity measures were compared across task conditions, and cross-modal associations between corresponding GSR and EMG measures were evaluated. Across the three metrics, complexity generally increased with task difficulty in both modalities, although the observed changes were more pronounced for GSR than for EMG. Positive associations were also observed between corresponding GSR and EMG complexity measures across the experimental conditions, suggesting coordinated variation in autonomic and somatic responses during increasing cognitive demand. These findings indicate that complexity-based analysis may provide useful information about workload-related changes in electrodermal and facial muscular activity. However, further inferential testing, confidence-interval estimation, and validation in independent samples and real-world settings are required before these measures can be regarded as reliable markers of cognitive workload.
Baliyan et al. (Fri,) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy (n=30). Graded mental effort was evaluated on Signal complexity of galvanic skin response (GSR) and facial electromyography (EMG). Graded mental effort increased signal complexity in both galvanic skin response and facial electromyography, with more pronounced changes observed for GSR than for EMG.