Sex differences, activation level, and bilateral electrodermal activity

The effects of the activation level and subject's sex on bilateral skin conductance measures were studied. Thirty right-handed subjects (15 males and 15 females) were exposed to three types of stimulus conditions: rest-period, verbal task and spatial task. Results showed that no relationship was observed between EDA asymmetry and the increase in the activation level induced by the verbal and the spatial tasks. Males showed both higher SCRs and greater frequency of responses on the left than on the right hand. The direction of electrodermal asymmetry remained constant regardless of the stimulus conditions. It was concluded that sex differences are important in the study of EDA asymmetry and that this asymmetry appeared to depend on peripheral variations.