The early days of electrodermal activity

Abstract

This paper emphazises main steps of the discovery of one of the most salient autonomic markers of mind expressions, the electrodermal activity (EDA). The contribution of French and German schools of physiology, aimed by clinical needs and the desire to know further about physiological mechanisms, constitutes the very early roots of such activity. In this frame, Féré and Tarchanoff, respectively a French and a Russian discoverers, established the link between mind activity and the EDA on the one hand and laid the methodological foundations of modern utilisation of this neuromarker on the other hand. This heritage, associated with central neural measures, is promised to an expanding future in neuropsychology, psychopathology, neurology, criminology and in cognitive and affective neuroscience.