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1. Exploring relationships between electrodermal activity, skin temperature, and performance during engineering exams

   T. H. Khan, I. Villanueva (October 2019, Proceedings Frontiers in Education Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   Students' academic learning, performance, and motivation are ongoing topics in engineering education. Those studies that have attempted to understand the mechanisms of motivation in authentic classroom settings and scenarios are few and limited to the methods used (e.g., self-reports, observations). This Work-in-Progress study explores the utility of electrodermal activity (EDA) and temperature sensors in accurately informing scholars about student performance during an exam in real-time. Correlations between each factor were analyzed. Initial results suggest that peripheral skin temperature has a weak, positive but significant correlation to exam question difficulty r=0.08; p<; 0.001). Also, electrodermal activity and temperature showed a weak, positive, but significant correlation (r=0.13; p<; 0.0010.05). The electrodermal activity showed a weak, positive, but significant correlation to exam question difficulty (r=0.16; p<; 0.0010.01). Also, skin temperature correlations with difficulty index (did not) changed across semesters (r=0.18; p<; 0.0010.001). We also developed a multiple regression model and found moderately significant relationships between EDA, difficulty index, and skin temperature (r=0.45; p<; 0.0010.05). The findings suggest that performance is tied to physiological responses among students during exam taking, indicating a possible connection between emotions and cognition via physiology. 

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2. Optimizing Sensor Locations for Electrodermal Activity Monitoring Using a Wearable Belt System

   https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan14020031  

   McNaboe, Riley Q; Kong, Youngsun; Henderson, Wendy A; Cong, Xiaomei; Li, Aolan; Seo, Min-Hee; Chen, Ming-Hui; Feng, Bin; Posada-Quintero, Hugo F (April 2025, Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks)

   Wearable devices for continuous health monitoring in humans are constantly evolving, yet the signal quality may be improved by optimizing electrode placement. While the commonly used locations to measure electrodermal activity (EDA) are at the fingers or the wrist, alternative locations, such as the torso, need to be considered when applying an integrated multimodal approach of concurrently recording multiple bio-signals, such as the monitoring of visceral pain symptoms like those related to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This study aims to quantitatively determine the EDA signal quality at four torso locations (mid-chest, upper abdomen, lower back, and mid-back) in comparison to EDA signals recorded from the fingers. Concurrent EDA signals from five body locations were collected from twenty healthy participants as they completed a Stroop Task and a Cold Pressor task that elicited salient autonomic responses. Mean skin conductance (meanSCL), non-specific skin conductance responses (NS.SCRs), and sympathetic response (TVSymp) were derived from the torso EDA signals and compared with signals from the fingers. Notably, TVSymp recorded from the mid-chest location showed significant changes between baseline and Stroop phase, consistent with the TVSymp recorded from the fingers. A high correlation (0.77–0.83) was also identified between TVSymp recorded from the fingers and three torso locations: mid-chest, upper abdomen, and lower back locations. While the fingertips remain the optimal site for EDA measurement, the mid-chest exhibited the strongest potential as an alternative recording site, with the upper abdomen and lower back also demonstrating promising results. These findings suggest that torso-based EDA measurements have the potential to provide reliable measurement of sympathetic neural activities and may be incorporated into a wearable belt system for multimodal monitoring. 

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3. Evidence-based teaching practices correlate with increased exam performance in biology

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260789  

   Moon, Sungmin; Jackson, Mallory A.; Doherty, Jennifer H.; Wenderoth, Mary Pat (November 2021, PLOS ONE)

   Carvalho, Paulo F. (Ed.)

   Evidence-based teaching practices are associated with improved student academic performance. However, these practices encompass a wide range of activities and determining which type, intensity or duration of activity is effective at improving student exam performance has been elusive. To address this shortcoming, we used a previously validated classroom observation tool, Practical Observation Rubric to Assess Active Learning (PORTAAL) to measure the presence, intensity, and duration of evidence-based teaching practices in a retrospective study of upper and lower division biology courses. We determined the cognitive challenge of exams by categorizing all exam questions obtained from the courses using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domains. We used structural equation modeling to correlate the PORTAAL practices with exam performance while controlling for cognitive challenge of exams, students’ GPA at start of the term, and students’ demographic factors. Small group activities, randomly calling on students or groups to answer questions, explaining alternative answers, and total time students were thinking, working with others or answering questions had positive correlations with exam performance. On exams at higher Bloom’s levels, students explaining the reasoning underlying their answers, students working alone, and receiving positive feedback from the instructor also correlated with increased exam performance. Our study is the first to demonstrate a correlation between the intensity or duration of evidence-based PORTAAL practices and student exam performance while controlling for Bloom’s level of exams, as well as looking more specifically at which practices correlate with performance on exams at low and high Bloom’s levels. This level of detail will provide valuable insights for faculty as they prioritize changes to their teaching. As we found that multiple PORTAAL practices had a positive association with exam performance, it may be encouraging for instructors to realize that there are many ways to benefit students’ learning by incorporating these evidence-based teaching practices. 

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4. Analyzing physiological signals recorded with a wearable sensor across the menstrual cycle using circular statistics

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fnetp.2023.1227228  

   Sides, Krystal; Kilungeja, Grentina; Tapia, Matthew; Kreidl, Patrick; Brinkmann, Benjamin H.; Nasseri, Mona (October 2023, Frontiers in Network Physiology)

   This study aims to identify the most significant features in physiological signals representing a biphasic pattern in the menstrual cycle using circular statistics which is an appropriate analytic method for the interpretation of data with a periodic nature. The results can be used empirically to determine menstrual phases. A non-uniform pattern was observed in ovulating subjects, with a significant periodicity (p $<$0.05) in mean temperature, heart rate (HR), Inter-beat Interval (IBI), mean tonic component of Electrodermal Activity (EDA), and signal magnitude area (SMA) of the EDA phasic component in the frequency domain. In contrast, non-ovulating cycles displayed a more uniform distribution (p $>$0.05). There was a significant difference between ovulating and non-ovulating cycles (p $<$0.05) in temperature, IBI, and EDA but not in mean HR. Selected features were used in training an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model, using data from at least one cycle of a subject, to predict the behavior of the signal in the last cycle. By iteratively retraining the algorithm on a per-day basis, the mean temperature, HR, IBI and EDA tonic values of the next day were predicted with root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.13 ± 0.07 (C°), 1.31 ± 0.34 (bpm), 0.016 ± 0.005 (s) and 0.17 ± 0.17 (μS), respectively. 

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5. Relatable and Humorous Videos Reduce Hyperarousal in Math Exams

   https://doi.org/10.1109/ACIIW59127.2023.10388115  

   Kiran, Fettah; Wesley, Amanveer; Tolar, Tammy; Cirino, Paul; Tsiamyrtzis, Panagiotis; Pavlidis, Ioannis (September 2023, IEEE)

   We report on a study investigating the sympathetic and performance effects of relatable humorous videos in undergraduate math exams. We recruited 20 lower division students to test this novel form of questioning. The students took a foundational math exam that included 12 items from each of the following three categories: Abstract A, Word W, and Video V, where A featured formula-based questions and W analytic questions expressed in plain descriptive form. The V category had questions similar to the W category, but expressed in relatable humorous video form. Sympathetic arousal was measured through facial electrodermal activity (EDAf) and heart rate (HR), where the former was extracted via thermal imaging, and the latter through smartwatches. Results from both the EDAf and HR channels indicate that questions expressed in relatable humorous video form significantly curtail hyperarousal with respect to similar questions expressed in plain descriptive form. Furthermore, the study’s results suggest that exam performance is negatively affected by pre-exam anxiety, while is positively affected by generous time allotment. The said findings highlight the potential of V questions in making the math experience less stressful and more endearing to undergraduate students. Due to the importance of foundational math courses, such a change stands to bring downstream benefits to STEM education. 

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