You may have heard this term many times before over the years and never really understood what it meant. Well, let's approach the study of GSR from the point of view that we can all relate to. Your body is an electrical machine; believe it or not it generates an electrical current! GSR is a test that is performed using an instrument which responds to changes in the electrical resistance produced by the body directly from the skin.
Resistance is determined by passing a very small electrical current through the dermis (skin), and measures the subsequent electrical changes in the body. There is a very strong relationship between sympathetic activity (part of the nervous system that allows us to react quickly e.g. the fight or flight response), and electrical activity in the body as it relates to emotional responses of every kind. Emotions such as anger, fear, sexual arousal, anxiety and others are all emotions which may produce GSR responses. This type of technology is in its infancy, however if you learn how to read the responses and the data it produces, the bio-feedback can be quite useful in helping us to learn how to control our emotions, and also to regain control of our lives!
GSR such as it is has been well researched over the years; it can be used to test many psycho-physical states that range from anger to empathy. GSR is also known by several other names which range from skin conductance response to psychogalvanic reflex and electrodermal response, all of which are GSR. The technology itself has many uses, which range from being used as a lie detector, to their use in psycho-therapy offices around the world. The use of this technology allows Practitioner's, and the public to monitor their systems in ways that in the past could only be done observationally through the use of body language.
Most of the units today that are used for testing are ones that you put your fingers into; this is because the hands contain a large number of nerve endings which provide an accurate reading of the physiological response the body is generating. When the mind is stimulated either audiologically by someone calling a subject names, or degrading them in some way, or visually by the subject seeing an event that causes fear or some other emotion, the unit responds. These responses (increased heart rate, sweating and increased respiration) cause the body to react which then creates electrochemical changes to occur systemically; the electrical resistance at the site of contact with the GSR unit also changes.
The physiologic responses that are detected by GSR are general in nature; they show responses to stimuli that can't be differentiated by anything other that relating the out put to an emotion. For example, if you get mad or anxious a GSR unit will show this response graphically or audiologically. If you are relaxed and happy the response again will be seen or heard as a particular pattern of sound or a visual that allows the client to know mentally where they are physically. As you can imagine this technology can be very useful in a number of areas, to include but not be limited to brain entrainment, stress reduction, behavior modification and your over all physical health.
What is great is that you don't need to go to a clinic to use this type of technology right now; it is affordable and can be purchased directly by the public for use in the home. There are a number of companies out there that make products which offer different types of feedback; some are good while others are just marketing companies selling products that they have little or no technical knowledge of. There are only a few quality companies that will provide you with the support and quality products that will reduce your learning curve.
They also stand behind their products one hundred percent. Since people ask so regularly who these companies are, it only makes sense to pass this info on to you right now. One company is called the Transparent Corporation, they can be found on the web easily enough at http://www.transparentcorp.com. They offer a visual PC based product that is very intuitive, and provides excellent feedback when used with another GSR product made by a company called The Wild Divine, which is also available from their site. The combination of the technologies made by these two companies will provide anyone with the kind of feed back that they can use to literally change their lives.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._James_Lembeck
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