Effect of intertrial intervals on recovery and amplitude of electrodermal reactions.

Convincing findings have been published about the importance of prior activity on electrodermal recovery. However, these studies mainly used tone tasks as an experimental paradigm. The present research investigated the influence of prior activity by changing the intertrial intervals (ITI) in cognitive and reaction time tasks. Results indicated that ITI had no effect on amplitude but had a significant effect on recovery time, a longer ITI period producing a longer recovery curve. No correlation was found between recovery and amplitude. Analysis also indicated that variable intervals should not be recommended between the tasks. These observations emphasize the importance of prior activity on electrodermal recovery in more complex tasks.