title: Stress detection in computer users through non-invasive monitoring of physiological signals.
abstract: he emerging discipline of Affective Computing pursues the development of computers that could interact with their users taking their affective states into account. For example, if a computer could detect when its user is experiencing stress, it could change the colors and sounds of its user interface to try to calm him/her down. Similarly, the pace of instruction in a computer-based training system could be adapted according to the stress level sensed in the pupil. The research described in this paper aims at the development of a stress detection approach based on automatic monitoring of physiological signals in the computer user. The paper describes the three main aspects of our work: experiment setup for physiological sensing, signal processing to detect the affective state and affective recognition using a learning system. Four signals: Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), Blood Volume Pulse (BVP), Pupil Diameter (PD) and Skin Temperature (ST) are monitored and analyzed to differentiate affective states in the user, in a non-invasive fashion. Results indicate that the physiological signals monitored do, in fact, have a strong correlation with the changes in emotional state of our experimental subjects when stress stimuli are applied to the interaction environment.
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Florida International University, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barreto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000145:classification*; D000465:Algorithms; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D015443:Word Processing