Stressed out? Your typing can be so treacherous
Sometimes you're so stressed that you don't even realise you're stressed. In future, the way you use your keyboard and mouse will help you to recognise stress in good time and take countermeasures - even better than a heart rate monitor.
I once had a colleague who I knew a few doors away from his office whether he was stressed or not that day. I didn't need to see him or hear him say anything. I could hear it in the way he typed: When we're stressed, we sometimes hit the keys harder, and this colleague in particular. This phenomenon has now been scientifically investigated.
When we are stressed, our bodily functions and behaviour change: Our heart rate increases, our concentration decreases, our movements become erratic and we act less deliberately. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) have now taken these changes as an opportunity to conduct a new study entitled "An interpretable machine learning approach to multimodal stress detection in a simulated office environment". They found that the way we type and move the cursor across the screen is better at determining whether stress levels are increasing than heart rate.
Recognising stress at an early stage
For the study, 90 test subjects had to perform standard office tasks while their heart rate, mouse movement patterns and keyboard use were recorded. One group was allowed to carry out their tasks undisturbed, while the others were stressed by constant messages or had to go through an additional job interview. Using various models calculated by machine learning, the scientists were then able to predict whether the people were under stress.
The models based on keystrokes and cursor movements were able to predict stress levels more reliably than models that used heart rate as an indicator.
Monitoring method or preventive healthcare in the workplace
The aim of the researchers was to develop an uncomplicated way of recognising stress at an early stage and thus preventing it. After all, anyone who is permanently under stress without taking countermeasures runs the risk of long-term damage to their health. However, if you are sensitised to the high level of stress in good time, working conditions can be changed, for example by introducing work phases without interruptions from emails and phone calls.
It is important to the authors of the study that their method is not intended to be a monitoring tool for employers, but rather can help employees to better adapt their working environment to their perception of stress. Use in the working environment would only be conceivable in anonymised form anyway.
Similar systems are already being used in cars to recognise tiredness. The software recognises when the steering wheel is moved abruptly more frequently or the pedal movements indicate a loss of concentration. The vehicle then warns the driver with a display, sound signal or by vibrating the steering wheel.
Cover photo:Unsplash/Christin Hume
Science editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always outside - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.