Nonsudorific skin potential level: current hypothesis and psychophysiological significance

Skin potential level has two mechanisms of generation: that due to sweat gland activity (sudorific) and that due to other causes (nonsudorific). These mechanisms have, in the past, been frequently confounded. This paper addresses the importance of discriminating between the two mechanisms and describes two kinds of nonsudorific skin potentials. There is reason to except nonsudorific skin potential level to be an important factor in embryogenesis, tissue regeneration and atypical growth. Early work that associated these potentials with changes in consciousness (e.g., sleep and hypnosis) is inconclusive. The literature concerning physiological and psychological correlates of skin potential levels that have been attributed to nonsudorific mechanisms is reviewed, and the methodological problem of measuring these potentials is considered.