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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
Electrophysiological Measurements and Analysis of Nociception in Human Infants
Published on: December 20, 2011
A procedure for the measurement of infant skin conductance and its initial validation using clap induced startle
1Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, New York 10003, USA. jham@chpnet.org
Insights
This study shows that skin conductance (SC) can measure infant physiological responses during active engagement. Researchers can use SC to understand infant emotional development and communication, even with movement challenges.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Psychophysiology
- Infant Behavior
Background:
- Skin conductance (SC) measures sympathetic nervous system activity, crucial for understanding emotional development.
- Measuring SC in actively engaged infants is challenging due to movement artifacts.
- Few studies have utilized SC in infants during interactive contexts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a feasible method for measuring infant SC during active engagement.
- To assess the utility of SC in capturing infant physiological responses to startling stimuli.
- To explore conditioned SC responses in infants during interactive paradigms.
Main Methods:
- A novel procedure for measuring SC on the plantar surface of the foot in 5-month-old infants.
- Infants were engaged with a researcher who elicited startle responses with claps.
- SC responses were recorded in relation to startling stimuli and anticipatory cues.
Main Results:
- Unconditioned SC responses correlated with the intensity of physical startle reactions.
- Anticipatory, conditioned SC responses were observed before startling claps.
- Conditioned SC responses demonstrated a linear increase in intensity over trials.
Conclusions:
- Skin conductance (SC) is a viable measure for infant psychophysiology during active engagement.
- SC can provide insights into infant emotional reactivity and communication.
- This method advances the study of psychophysiologic foundations in infant emotional development.
Abstract:
Studies examining psychophysiologic markers of infant emotional development abound. However, few studies have used skin conductance (SC), though it measure's sympathetic activity, and none have measured SC on infants sitting up and actively engaged with another person, a significant challenge given the measures sensitivity to movement artifact. In this pilot/feasibility study, we present a procedure for measuring infant SC during active engagement with another person who executes a series of startling claps to elicit an SC response. We measured SC on the plantar surface of the foot of seventeen 5-month-old infants. We found unconditioned SC responses that were related to the intensity of physical startle reactions for each clap trial. We also found anticipatory, conditioned SC responses that occurred within 5 s before each clap that occurred when the researcher raised his clasped hands. These conditioned SC responses grew linearly in intensity over trials. We conclude that SC may be a useful addition to the infant researcher's armamentarium and may indeed be used to measure physiologic reactivity in infants even when actively engaged with another person. Addition of SC measurement to research on infant emotion and emotional communication is likely to advance our understanding of the psychophysiologic foundations of infant emotional development.
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