USE OF ELECTRODERMAL WRISTBANDS TO MEASURE STUDENTS' COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

A pilot project was conducted to study the feasibility of using electrodermal activity sensors embedded in a watch-like device to measure skin conductivity in real time. In the field of education, it may be interesting to use this technology to assess the students' cognitive engagement in the classroom. A few volunteer students as well as the professor were wearing an Empatica E4 wristband during some class periods where different activities were organized such as lectures, workshops and exams. Monitoring several individuals simultaneously makes possible to compare the collected data among students and between the students and the professor. Also, since the activities were weekly repeated, it was possible to assess to which extent the observed patterns were similar from one group to the other. In brief, the collected data is very difficult to interpret, since some external factors seem to have a significant effect on the measurements. Indeed, discrepancies are observed in the data curves representing the students’ electrodermal activity. Also, the data generated by the professor is quite different from one group to the other, even if he repeated the exact same activities at two different times of the week. It is suggested to improve the understanding of all the phenomena that could affect the electrodermal activity measurements before trying to draw conclusions related to the students’ cognitive engagement in the classroom.

The physiological study of emotional piloerection: A review and guide for future research

This paper provides an accessible review of the biological and psychological evidence to guide new and experienced researchers in the study of emotional piloerection in humans. I first discuss the mechanisms and function of non-emotional and emotional piloerection. A systematic review (N = 27) reveals that indices of sympathetic activation are abundant, suggesting emotional piloerection occurs with increased skin conductivity and heart rate. Measures of emotions and parasympathetic activation are lacking and no clear conclusions can be drawn. Finally, I provide an overview of the methodological possibilities and I highlight some pressing questions researchers may wish to answer in future studies.

Capturing Primary School Students’ Emotional Responses with a Sensor Wristband

The emotions experienced by primary school students have both positive and negative effects on learning processes. Thus, to better understand learning processes, research should consider emotions during class. Standard survey-based methods, such as self-reports, are limited in terms of capturing the detailed trajectories of primary school children’s emotions, as their abilities of self-reporting are developing and still limited. Emotions can also be tracked by capturing emotional responses as they occur e.g. from physiological reaction measured with sensor wristbands. This technology generates an emotional responsestypology based on continuously captured physiological data, such as skin conductivity and skin temperature. However, such measurement methods need to be validated before being used. The present study thus attempted to validate this instrument with primary school students. We used the BM Sensor Wristband technology, as its emotional response typology is based on the categorical emotion and homeostasis approach. In our research, we focus on the emotional responses that can be distinguished by the BM Typology and that can influence learning processes. These emotional responses are: “joy”, “curiosity”, “attention”, “fear”, “anger” and “passivity”. Therefore, we induced emotional responses in primary school children through specifically developed audio-visual stimuli. Using logistic mixed effects modelling, we investigated the occurrence of opposing reactions. We observed that primary school children’s reactions to audio-visual stimuli could be differentiated. We conclude that primary school children’s emotional responses, such as “joy”, “curiosity”, “attention”, “fear”, “anger” and “passivity”, can be accurately measured by evaluating physiological data.

IDENTIFYING THE MENTAL STATUS OF BEDRIDDEN ELDERLY BY THE BODY TEMPERATURE, HEART RATE, AND SKIN CONDUCTIVITY USING AN ARDUINO SENSOR MODULE

Addressing the emotional and mental health of the bedridden elderly is necessary as they are more likely to be depressed being isolated and dependent on a caregiver for a prolonged time. Several studies have been carried out to identify the mental stress of patients through their skin conductivity. The variations in the sympathetic nervous system reflect the emotional state of a person. This is demonstrated by the Galvanic Skin Response and thus can be used as a denotation of psychological or physiological arousal. Such arousal causes the blood capillary dilation, increment of sweat gland activities making the skin further conductive to electricity. In this study we develop a sensor module composed of a Galvanic Skin Response sensor for the bed ridden elderly and identify the relationship between body temperature, heart rate and GSR of them. The experiment is conducted upon 10 bed ridden elderly aged from 60 – 80 years of the Mihinthale region. The observations demonstrate a correlation between the heart rate, body temperature, skin conductivity and the human physiological states.

Association of Anxiety Awareness with Risk Factors of Cognitive Decline in MCI

Studies demonstrate that anxiety is a risk factor for cognitive decline. However, there are also study findings regarding anxiety incidence among people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which mostly examined general anxiety evaluated by subjective questionnaires. This study aimed to compare subjective and objective anxiety (using autonomic measures) and anxiety as a general tendency and anxiety as a reaction to memory examination. Participants were 50 adults aged 59–82 years who were divided into two groups: MCI group and control group, according to their objective cognitive performance in the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Objective changes in the anxiety response were measured by skin conductivity in all tests and questionnaires. To evaluate subjective anxiety as a reaction to memory loss, a questionnaire on “state-anxiety” was used immediately after completing memory tests. Our main finding was that although both healthy and memory-impaired participants exhibited elevations in physiological arousal during the memory test, only healthy participants reported an enhanced state anxiety (p = 0.025). Our results suggest that people with MCI have impaired awareness of their emotional state.

Future Directions for Physiological Communication Research

This handbook offered a review of cutting-edge research in the field of interpersonal communication and posed future directions to extend the literature focused on the bidirectional associations between communication and the human body. This chapter serves to summarize the handbook chapters by first reviewing biomarkers favored in communication scholarship, specifically cortisol, skin conductivity, heart rate, blood pressure, and neural activity. Next, several emerging areas of investigation are noted, namely the consideration of testosterone, oxytocin, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, immune response indicators, and plasma glucose levels. The conclusion specifies directions for future research and advocates for interdisciplinary collaborations with physiologists, neuroendocrinologists, neurologists, and other researchers studying life sciences.

Effects of Maternal Singing Style on Mother–Infant Arousal and Behavior

Mothers around the world sing to infants, presumably to regulate their mood and arousal. Lullabies and playsongs differ stylistically and have distinctive goals. Mothers sing lullabies to soothe and calm infants and playsongs to engage and excite infants. In this study, mothers repeatedly sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to their infants ( n = 30 dyads), alternating between soothing and playful renditions. Infant attention and mother–infant arousal (i.e., skin conductivity) were recorded continuously. During soothing renditions, mother and infant arousal decreased below initial levels as the singing progressed. During playful renditions, maternal and infant arousal remained stable. Moreover, infants exhibited greater attention to mother during playful renditions than during soothing renditions. Mothers' playful renditions were faster, higher in pitch, louder, and characterized by greater pulse clarity than their soothing renditions. Mothers also produced more energetic rhythmic movements during their playful renditions. These findings highlight the contrastive nature and consequences of lullabies and playsongs.

Identification of Suitable Biomarkers for Stress and Emotion Detection for Future Personal Affective Wearable Sensors

Skin conductivity (i.e., sweat) forms the basis of many physiology-based emotion and stress detection systems. However, such systems typically do not detect the biomarkers present in sweat, and thus do not take advantage of the biological information in the sweat. Likewise, such systems do not detect the volatile organic components (VOC’s) created under stressful conditions. This work presents a review into the current status of human emotional stress biomarkers and proposes the major potential biomarkers for future wearable sensors in affective systems. Emotional stress has been classified as a major contributor in several social problems, related to crime, health, the economy, and indeed quality of life. While blood cortisol tests, electroencephalography and physiological parameter methods are the gold standards for measuring stress; however, they are typically invasive or inconvenient and not suitable for wearable real-time stress monitoring. Alternatively, cortisol in biofluids and VOCs emitted from the skin appear to be practical and useful markers for sensors to detect emotional stress events. This work has identified antistress hormones and cortisol metabolites as the primary stress biomarkers that can be used in future sensors for wearable affective systems.