Stress can be assessed by keyboard and mouse movements. Photo: File
Zurich: A new and somewhat interesting study has found that a person’s keyboard and mouse usage pattern can be an early warning sign of stress at work.
Mara Niglin of the ETH Institute, Zurich, and her colleagues recruited 90 people in this study. Meanwhile, they were allowed to do the work they do in offices. These tasks included record keeping, typing and looking up appointments etc. All participants’ heart rate was recorded while the camera monitored the mouse and keyboard.
Experts believe that in this way, mental stress can be detected in normal people before they suffer from a more complicated situation and thus timely intervention can prevent it from getting worse.
In the lab, all subjects were allowed to read text messages and do other things while repeatedly asking participants about their state, mood and health. While the questionnaires were filled even before sitting on the seats.
People with anxiety and stress have been found to move their mouse in an erratic manner. They can’t handle the pointer and drag it far across the screen. On the other hand, people who are not stressed use the keyboard and mouse in a calm manner. Reduce errors and move the mouse pointer to the correct location. Thus, they operate both objects very smoothly.
But during this period, no difference in heart rate was observed in both calm and anxious subjects. This proved that using a mouse and keyboard with hands can be a good way to note mental stress.
This is because stress affects our body movements (motormovement), for example, we start to tremble in fear or shake in anger, etc.
However, experts have emphasized more research in this regard.
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