Analysis of Electrodermal Signal Features as Indicators of Cognitive and Emotional Reactions—Comparison of the Effectiveness of Selected Statistical Measures

Abstract

This study investigates which statistical measures of electrodermal activity (EDA) signal features most effectively differentiate between responses to stimuli and resting states in participants performing tasks with varying cognitive and emotional reactions. The study involved 30 healthy participants. Collected EDA data were statistically analyzed, comparing the effectiveness of twelve statistical signal measures in detecting stimulus-induced changes. The aim of this study is to answer the following research question: Which statistical features of the electrodermal activity signal most effectively indicate changes induced by cognitive and emotional reactions, and are there such significant similarities (high correlations) among these features that some of them can be considered redundant? The results indicated that amplitude-related measures—mean, median, maximum, and minimum—were most effective. It was also found that some signal features were highly correlated, suggesting the possibility of simplifying the analysis by choosing just one measure from each correlated pair. The results indicate that stronger emotional stimuli lead to more pronounced changes in EDA than stimuli with a low emotional load. These findings may contribute to the standardization of EDA analysis in future research on cognitive and emotional reaction engagement.