GSR: Tracking Emotional Arousal Through Skin Conductivity
GSR reads unconscious arousal via skin conductivity you cannot control. UX teams use it to surface stress during usability tests users underreport. It measures intensity, not valence, so a spike alone cannot distinguish delight from frustration.
GSR turns the skin into an unconscious emotion sensor by tracking conductivity changes driven by autonomic sweat gland activation. In UX research, it reveals stress or excitement during usability tasks that participants may underreport or be unaware of. Because it is driven by sympathetic activity outside cognitive control, GSR offers undiluted physiological insight. The catch is that GSR measures arousal intensity, not valence; a spike alone cannot distinguish delight from terror without facial coding or self-report.
Read the original → imotions.com
- #gsr
- #ux research
- #biometrics
- #electrodermal activity
- #usability testing
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