Measuring the Autonomic Nervous System

Introduction  The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is a complex network of nerves and ganglia which work to regulate a variety of sensory and motor systems without conscious effort (Berntson 2006). It is separated into two branches, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. These two branches have very clear points of […]

Modifying HRV High-Frequency Band Settings

When attempting to analyze and report ECG data in the frequency domain it is important to understand that you may need to adjust certain settings based off of the subject’s age or state of activity (resting or exercising). This article will primarily focus only on adjusting the high-frequency bands of […]

All About EDA Part 3: Data Editing

Now that we recognize the components of the EDA waveform, it is important to differentiate between actual response and fluctuations in the signal which are in fact artifacts. It is important to prevent artifact from occurring as much as possible by using quality electrodes and following best practices for data acquisition, […]

All About EDA Part 2: Components of Skin Conductance

Last time we talked about the significance of measuring electrodermal activity, and how it is collected. Now we can start looking at the resulting waveform and how to extract meaningful information from it.   Scaling EDA to Microsiemens MindWare applications expect incoming data to be in volts (with the exception […]

All About EDA Part 1: Introduction to Electrodermal Activity

All About Electrodermal Activity EDA stands for Electrodermal Activity, and is the measurement of changes in the electrical properties of the skin. When a person sweats, the conductivity of their skin changes, and activation of eccrine sweat glands is an established indicator of sympathetic nervous system arousal. Therefore, by measuring […]

Improving Data Quality: ECG

Before reading this article, check out these basic guidelines for ensuring good data collection which are universally applicable. Now we will get a bit more focused, and talk about signal specific data quality issues that can arise and how to deal with them. Disclaimer: Labeling data “good” or “bad” is […]

Improving Data Quality: EDA

Before reading this article, check out these basic guidelines for ensuring good data collection which are universally applicable. Now we will get a bit more focused, and talk about signal specific data quality issues that can arise and how to deal with them. Disclaimer: Labeling data “good” or “bad” is […]

Improving Data Quality: Cardiac Impedance

Before reading this article, check out these basic guidelines for ensuring good data collection which are universally applicable. Now we will get a bit more focused, and talk about signal specific data quality issues that can arise and how to deal with them. Disclaimer: Labeling data “good” or “bad” is […]

Improving Data Quality: General Guidelines

Collecting good quality data is fundamental to every study. Poor data quality can result in hours of additional work in post processing and, in the worst case scenario, the need to discard an entire epoch/session/subject. Discarding a subject often means not only lost data, but also lost time and financial […]