The function of skin conductance response recovery and rise time.

The hypothesis that recovery time of the skin conductance response could be considered as a measure of attentional 'openness--closedness' to the environment was investigated by examining the relation of SCR recovery time to cardiac response variables established as measures of attentional stance. The hypothesis was not supported. However, rise time of SCR which is related to recovery time was found to be related to cardiac acceleration. It is suggested on the basis of these preliminary results that the measurement of SCR rise time should be undertaken in future studies.