Mindfield’s biofeedback and neurofeedback sensors are used worldwide in scientific research. From emergency departments in Atlanta to children’s clinics in Detroit, dental facilities in Hong Kong, and neuroscience centers in Bangalore — researchers on four continents use eSense sensors as measurement instruments in published, peer-reviewed studies.
On this page, we present the institutions that have conducted research with Mindfield products. All listed studies were conducted independently and without involvement of Mindfield and published in international journals.
Emory University — Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Research focus: Psychophysiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma research, and physiological biomarkers. Researchers at Emory University conducted the most-cited independent validation study for the eSense Skin Response to date: They directly compared the device with the clinical lab standard Biopac and determined a correlation of r = 0.94. In a further study, they investigated whether an elevated skin conductance response immediately after a trauma can predict the subsequent development of chronic PTSD (AUC = 0.90).
Wayne State University — Detroit, Michigan, USA
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences
Research focus: Trauma sequelae in children and adolescents, physiological biomarkers in disadvantaged urban populations and refugee youth. Three studies from Wayne State University demonstrate the applicability of the eSense Skin Response in child and adolescent research: The researchers showed for the first time that skin conductance in approximately 9-year-old children correlates with trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms, and in a follow-up study (2024) prospectively demonstrated that SCR predicts PTSD severity two years later. A further study examined the method in Syrian and Iraqi refugee youth, including in home environments.
Columbia University & UCLA — New York / Los Angeles, USA
Chronic Stress Research Group (Collaboration Columbia, UCLA, Emory)
Research focus: Medically induced trauma and PTSD after stroke. The researchers investigated whether skin conductance measurement directly at the bedside — within 1–2 days after a stroke or TIA — can predict the subsequent development of PTSD. For the first time, a dimensional PTSD approach was pursued: The study differentiates between fear-based symptoms (anxiety, avoidance) and dysphoria (low mood, numbness) and shows that skin conductance specifically correlates with the fear-based component of PTSD.
University of Wuppertal — Germany
Psychophysiology and Sports Science
Research focus: Physiological measurement methods for cognitive load and emotional stress. The study compared the eSense Skin Response directly with a spirometer (respiratory gas analysis) under controlled laboratory conditions. The results show that EDA and spirometry are complementary measurement methods: While the eSense Skin Response responds sensitively to emotional arousal and stress activation, spirometry captures cognitive load more effectively. The study appeared in Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio).
University of Padua — Italy
Dentistry, Psychophysiology, and Clinical Hypnosis
Research focus: Stress physiology and relaxation interventions in clinical professional contexts. The researchers investigated whether guided brief hypnosis (10 minutes) measurably reduces sympathetic activation in professionally burdened dentists. The eSense Galvanometer (eSense Skin Response) was used as the primary measurement instrument for electrodermal activity. The study found a statistically significant reduction in skin conductance responses after hypnosis (p = 0.002; Cohen’s d = 0.724; Bayes factor BF = 20.7).
University of Melbourne — Australia
Clinical Psychology and Trauma Research
Research focus: Alexithymia, emotional body awareness, and PTSD. The researchers investigated how alexithymia (the difficulty in perceiving and naming one’s own emotions) affects the concordance between subjective experience and physiological response. For the multidimensional physiological response profile, both eSense Pulse (heart rate) and eSense Skin Response (EDA) were used simultaneously — one of the few studies in which both Mindfield sensors were used in parallel.
Craig Hospital — Englewood, Colorado, USA
Neurological Rehabilitation, Spinal Cord Injury
Research focus: HRV biofeedback training for anxiety disorders resulting from chronic spinal cord injury. Craig Hospital is one of the leading rehabilitation facilities for spinal cord injury in the USA. The randomized pilot study (RCT) tested whether individuals with spinal cord injury can independently perform HRV biofeedback at home using the eSense Pulse — without clinical supervision at every session. The eSense Pulse proved to be a practical instrument for home-based implementation.
University of Hong Kong — Hong Kong, China
Oral Surgery and Clinical Dentistry
Research focus: Breathing biofeedback for anxiety reduction during dental procedures. In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), the eSense Respiration was used as the primary measurement instrument: It measured respiratory rate, depth, and breathing patterns in real time and transmitted the data via WiFi to augmented reality glasses that provided patients with visual feedback for breathing regulation. The study is the first published RCT in which the eSense Respiration was used as the core instrument of an intervention study.
OmniActive Health Technologies / Bengaluru Neuro Center — India
Clinical Nutrition Research and Neurology
Research focus: Multimodal, objective stress measurement in randomized controlled trials. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled RCT (12 weeks, N = 90), eSense Skin Response and eSense Pulse were used as objective measurement instruments to physiologically capture stress changes — complementing subjective scales (PSS, BAI) and laboratory parameters (cortisol). This is one of the few RCTs in which both Mindfield sensors were simultaneously used as primary objective outcome measures.
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All studies mentioned on this page were conducted by independent research institutions without involvement or funding by Mindfield Biosystems Ltd. The eSense sensors were used as measurement instruments in these studies. No claims regarding efficacy or therapeutic benefit within the meaning of applicable advertising regulations can be derived from the research results.