Do we react in the same manner?: comparing GSR patterns across scenarios

Abstract

Is the physiological response from participants different between a lab experiment and a field study? In this paper, we exhaustively compare the GSR (galvanic skin response) patterns between two different scenarios. The first one was conducted in a theatre during a performance, while the second one in a laboratory during a video watching session. Questionnaires, interviews, and video recordings helped us to interpret sensor patterns, and to map them to user engagement. When comparing the GSR responses, we found a strong positive correlation between all engaged users of the two scenarios. Interestingly, such correlation was not present between the responses of non-engaged users. These results show the homogeneity of positive responses across scenarios, when compared to the variability of negative ones. The results corroborate as well that sensor data results obtained in lab studies cannot be easily generalized to real-world situations.