The effect of stimulus omission and interstimulus interval (ISI) on electrodermal habituation at short ISIs

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of complete stimulus omission and interstimulus interval (ISI) variability on habituation of the skin conductance response. A new scoring technique allowed shorter ISIs to be used (0.5-1.5 s) than in previous studies. It was found that both stimulus omission and variation of a previously constant ISI had a significant effect on the course of habituation at short ISIs. The results are consistent with comparator models of habituation and suggest that participants encode the ISI of a series of stimuli presented as short ISIs.