Reliability of Electrodermal Activity: Quantifying Sensory Processing in Children With Autism

Schupak, Barbara M; Parasher, Raju K.; Zipp, Genevieve Pinto

doi:10.5014/ajot.2016.018291

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The overlapping confidence intervals of ICC indicate that the reliability of both measures does not differ between the two groups. These findings are comparable to test–retest reliability of HR/HRV in preschoolers [Doussard‐Roosevelt, Montgomery, & Porges, ], brain measures in children [Somandepalli et al, ], and electrodermal activity in ASD [Schupak, Parasher, & Zipp, ]. The reliability of HR/HRV suggests that there are trait‐like individual differences in regulation of arousal state in children with ASD and maybe promising for the use of cardiac activity as a biomarker for individual difference in preschoolers.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Heart rate mean and variability as a biomarker for phenotypic variation in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

et al. 2018

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Cardiac activity, such as heart rate and heart rate variability, is linked to a wide range of psychological functions. This study shows that there is an association between heart rate and heart rate variability and language skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These results may help us understand what underlies individual differences in developmental abilities in young children with ASD.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Heart rate mean and variability as a biomarker for phenotypic variation in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

et al. 2018

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“…As previously reported in older children with ASD [Fenning et al, 2017;Fenning et al, 2019;Goodwin, 2016;Schupak, Parasher, & Zipp, 2016], the current results demonstrate that changes in ambulatory EDA response is a feasible and valid measure of peripheral physiological arousal during more naturalistic situations in very young ASD and TD children. Capitalizing on the accessibility and usability of newer mobile sensors (able to measure multiple physiological markers simultaneously) to concurrently examine larger groups of children would provide this more complete picture and help replicate, support, and extend our study with its relatively large but population-modest sample size.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Furthermore, since EDA solely reflects activity of the sympathetic nervous system, it would be beneficial to simultaneously assess the parasympathetic branch given its role in emotion regulation and assistance in recovering from stressful events [Langley, 1921]. This could be achieved by combining more than a few physiological indicators such as heart rate variability or blood pressure [Kushki et al, 2013;Levine et al, 2012;Schupak et al, 2016] to get a more complete picture of the full autonomic response profiles present in toddlers with ASD. Given the association between physiological and behavioral response observed during the Joy condition in toddlers with ASD in the current study, future investigations of physiological reactivity to joyful situations in ASD would benefit from utilization of toys or specific interests thought to trigger positive emotions.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atypical Emotional Electrodermal Activity in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

et al. 2020

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Past studies in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) indicate atypical peripheral physiological arousal. However, the conditions under which these atypicalities arise and their link with behavioral emotional expressions and core ASD symptoms remain uncertain. Given the importance of physiological arousal in affective, learning, and cognitive processes, the current study examined changes in skin conductance level (ΔSCL) in 41 toddlers with ASD (mean age: 22.7 months, SD: 2.9) and 32 age‐matched toddlers with typical development (TD) (mean age: 21.6 months, SD: 3.6) in response to probes designed to induce anger, joy, and fear emotions. The magnitude of ΔSCL was comparable during anger (P = 0.206, d = 0.30) and joy (P = 0.996, d = 0.01) conditions, but significantly lower during the fear condition (P = 0.001, d = 0.83) in toddlers with ASD compared to TD peers. In the combined samples, ΔSCL positively correlated with intensity of behavioral emotional expressivity during the anger (r[71] = 0.36, P = 0.002) and fear (r[68] = 0.32, P = 0.007) conditions, but not in the joy (r[69] = −0.15, P = 0.226) condition. Finally, ΔSCL did not associate with autism symptom severity in any emotion‐eliciting condition in the ASD group. Toddlers with ASD displayed attenuated ΔSCL to situations aimed at eliciting fear, which may forecast the emergence of highly prevalent internalizing and externalizing problems in this population. The study putatively identifies ΔSCL as a dimension not associated with severity of autism but with behavioral responses in negatively emotionally challenging events and provides support for the feasibility, validity, and incipient utility of examining ΔSCL in response to emotional challenges in very young children. Lay Summary Physiological arousal was measured in toddlers with autism exposed to frustrating, pleasant, and threatening tasks. Compared to typically developing peers, toddlers with autism showed comparable arousal responses to frustrating and pleasant events, but lower responses to threatening events. Importantly, physiological arousal and behavioral expressions were aligned during frustrating and threatening events, inviting exploration of physiological arousal to measure responses to emotional challenges. Furthermore, this study advances the understanding of precursors to emotional and behavioral problems common in older children with autism. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1476–1488. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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“…For example, of the three studies that used EDA as the physiological autonomic measure, only one component was found to be similar across (i.e., EDA magnitude) and other EDA components differed. While autonomic measures may be a good index of physiological responses, each would have a function specific to a related behavioural response that needs to be considered in future research designs [ 28 , 39 , 54 ]. The choice of experimental laboratory paradigm to elicit physiological responses poses a great influence on the methodological robustness and eventual uniformity and generalizability of findings across the studies [ 54 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While autonomic measures may be a good index of physiological responses, each would have a function specific to a related behavioural response that needs to be considered in future research designs [ 28 , 39 , 54 ]. The choice of experimental laboratory paradigm to elicit physiological responses poses a great influence on the methodological robustness and eventual uniformity and generalizability of findings across the studies [ 54 ]. Two of the reviewed studies [ 5 , 31 ] used the Sensory Challenge Protocol, while the rest used their own novel sensory paradigm.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural and Autonomic Regulation of Response to Sensory Stimuli among Children: A Systematic Review of Relationship and Methodology

Gomez

Lai

Morato-Espino

et al. 2017

BioMed Research International

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Background Previous studies have explored the correlates of behavioural and autonomic regulation of response to sensory stimuli in children; however, a comprehensive review of such relationship is lacking. This systematic review was performed to critically appraise the current evidence on such relationship and describe the methods used in these studies. Methods Online databases were systematically searched for peer-reviewed, full-text articles in the English language between 1999 and 2016, initially screened by title and abstract, and appraised and synthesized by two independent review authors. Results Fourteen Level III-3 cross-sectional studies were included for systematic review, among which six studies explored the relationship between behaviour and physiological regulation of responses to sensory stimuli. Three studies reported significant positive weak correlations among ASD children; however, no correlations were found in typically developing children. Methodological differences related to individual differences among participants, measures used, and varied laboratory experimental setting were noted. Conclusion This review suggests inconclusive evidence supporting the relationship between behavioural and physiological regulation of responses to sensory stimuli among children. Methodological differences may likely have confounded the results of the current evidence. We present methodological recommendations to address this matter for future researches. This trial is registered with PROSPERO registration number CRD42016043887.

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Reliability of Electrodermal Activity: Quantifying Sensory Processing in Children With Autism

Abstract: EDA measures are reliable physiological markers that can quantify response to sensation in children with and without ASD.

Cited by 15 publications

References 17 publications

Heart rate mean and variability as a biomarker for phenotypic variation in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

Heart rate mean and variability as a biomarker for phenotypic variation in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

Atypical Emotional Electrodermal Activity in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Behavioural and Autonomic Regulation of Response to Sensory Stimuli among Children: A Systematic Review of Relationship and Methodology

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