Electrodermal orienting activity in children with Down syndrome

The elicitation and habituation of electrodermal orienting responses to auditory stimuli of 19 children with Down syndrome and a control group, an age and sex-matched sample of children without mental retardation were compared. Stimuli were ten 2-second 80 dB, 1000 Hz tones followed by a test tone (80 dB, 500 Hz). Children with Down syndrome gave electrodermal orienting responses of a lower amplitude than did the children in the control group. Both groups showed habituation of their responses. No significant differences were found between groups in either skin conductance levels or frequency of nonspecific responses. Overall, children with Down syndrome showed electrodermal hyporesponsivity in their orienting responses to the stimuli.