Electrodermal responsivity to interrogation questions and its relation to self-reported emotional disturbance

The relationship between skin resistance responses (SRRs) and self-reported emotional disturbance was studied in 24 males and 24 females. SRRs to seven interrogation questions were recorded and subjects were requested to rate on visual analogue scales how disturbing they had found each question. The mean within subject correlations were significant for both groups, suggesting that electrodermal responses to interrogation questions are significantly related to the extent to which the subjects find such questions disturbing. A particular question may elicit disturbance for a number of reasons including embarrassment, conflict over how to answer the question, and fear of the consequences of possible detection.