Reliability of spontaneous electrodermal activity in humans as a function of sleep stages.
This study was designed to examine the reliability of spontaneous electrodermal activity (EDA) as a function of the sleep stages in human subjects. Recordings were made from 10 volunteer paid male students during four complete nights. The results show that: (a) reliability of EDA varies as a function of sleep stages for both frequency and amplitude parameters although in a different way: frequency reliability shows a U-shape curve whereas amplitude reliability grows monotically with the depth of sleep and; (b) paradoxical sleep appears to be the most reliable stage for both frequency and amplitude variables. These results are compared to those obtained in waking human subjects and in sleeping cats.
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology