Published in:IEEE Computer, Vol. 48, No. 10, October 2015, pp. 26-33.
Abstract:Psychologists have studied emotions since the 19th century, but there is still no universally
accepted definition of emotions and how they are generated. However, more than a century of
research shows that emotions and physiology are related. Many studies employ physiological
data such as electrodermal, cardiovascular, and muscular activity to measure participants’
affective states, including those related to stress. Other instruments such as questionnaires and
scales can be used to assess affective states. However, these cannot be administered to users
without interrupting the task they are carrying out, thus affecting their emotions. In addition to
the possible biases that can affect any type of self-reporting, the intrinsic ambiguity of
describing emotions in writing could undermine such instruments’ reliability. Thus, developing
systems that can detect stress through physiology is particularly appealing, and not just for
experimental studies.
Copyright:This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in IEEE Computer.
The definitive version was published in IEEE Computer, Volume 48, Issue 10, October 2015, pp. 26-33 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=7310949
