Heart rate
A second set of methodological tools involves physiological measures such as heart rate, galvanic skin responses (sweating) or muscle activity. Heart rate is used as a measure of whether an orienting response has occurred. When people show an aroused response, their heart rate decelerates for a few seconds before returning toward their baseline. Likewise, an increase in skin conductance is evidence of an aroused response. Thus, the combined evidence of heart rate deceleration and an increase in skin conductance provides convergent evidence that an orienting response (OR) has occurred.