Wolfram
Boucsein, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of
Physiological Psychology
As the head of the
Psychophysiological Laboratory at the
Psychophysiology in Ergonomics/Human Factors
- Objective emotional assessment of products.
Emotion inducing properties of cosmetic products are objectively determined by
means of cardiovascular, electrodermal, and facial electromyographical
measures. Discriminant analysis is used to evaluate
the differences.
- Influence of temporal factors in human
computer interaction. Systematic variations of system response times and
breaks during simulated and real computer work are investigated with respect to
psychophysiological stress-strain processes and performance decrement.
Differential effects of mental and emotional strain are used to explain the
influence of external and internal stress factors that appear in computer work
places.
- Adaptive automation. A closed-loop adaptive
system is set up for varying the strength of turbulence in a professional
flight simulator. The number of nonspecific skin conductance responses and
heart rate variability are used for triggering the turbulence strength,
dependent on the set points of the individual subject. In a yoked control
condition, subjects receive the same sequence of turbulences without adaptive
automation. In contrast to yoked control subjects, experimental subjects
maintain an optimal vigilance/workload level as a result of adaptive control.
R. W. Backs,
&
Boucsein, W., & Backs, R. W. (2009). The Psychophysiology of Emotion,
Arousal, and Personality: Methods and Models. In V. G. Duffy
(Ed.), Handbook of Digital Human Modeling (pp. 35-1 – 35-18).
These areas of research are
carried on in my Company Psyrecon Ltd. Please contact
our Psyrecon
webpage for further information.
Origins and applications
of electrodermal activity
Neurophysiological evidences support a model of two
different central nervous system sources of electrodermal activity: (1) the
hypothalamus, (2) the basal ganglia together with premotor
cortical areas. The implications of this model for peripheral
psychophysiological phenomena are investigated by using the concepts of
orienting, anticipation, and preparation within two-stimulus paradigms. My laboratory probes the utility of
electrodermal measures as indicators for information processing, arousal and
emotion in various experimental settings. New methods of electrodermal
recording using alternating current are developed, in order to circumvent the
constant current vs. constant voltage problem in recording electrodermal
activity (EDA), also known as galvanic skin respone
(GSR).
See also my EDA-Homepage.
Boucsein, W. (1992). Electrodermal Activity.
I am currently working on a
second edition of my book on EDA, which will appear 2011 at Springer Science +
Business Media in
Schaefer,
F., & Boucsein, W. (2000). Comparison of
electrodermal constant voltage and constant current recording techniques using
the phase angle between alternating voltage and current. Psychophysiology,
37, 85-91.
All Publications of my
group may be found in my
Publication List on a separate web page.
Please Email me if
you have any questions.
I am currently one of the
officers of "Psychophysiology in
Ergonomics" (PIE).
This page is maintained by
Wolf Boucsein, boucsein@uni-wuppertal.de.
Last modified on January 6, 2011