Abstract
In this article the authors describe a novel way to conduct user studies via the combination of a physiological and an observational information channel. The method enables not only the quantification of arousing emotional states but also their disambiguation into positive or negative instances. The physiological channel targets sympathetic responses and has materialized as a perspiratory signal extracted from thermal imagery of the perinasal area. The observational channel has materialized via decoding of facial expressions. However, while such decoding is usually performed in the visible spectrum, the authors have developed an algorithm to carry this out in thermal imagery instead. Thus, thermal imaging is used for both physiological and observational analysis. The potential of this dual unobtrusive methodology is demonstrated with some examples from a stress study, where users (surgeons in this case) interact with laparoscopic training boxes. © 2012 Authors.
Recommended Citation
A. Wesley et al., "Eustressed or Distressed? Combining Physiology with Observation in User Studies," Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Proceedings, pp. 327 - 330, Association for Computing Machinery, Jan 2012.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1145/2212776.2212811
Department(s)
Engineering Management and Systems Engineering
Publication Status
Free Access
Keywords and Phrases
distress; emotions; eustress; facial expressions; sympathetic signals; user studies
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
978-145031016-1
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2025 Association for Computing Machinery, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2012
