COGCAM: Contact-free Measurement of Cognitive Stress During Computer Tasks with a Digital Camera

Abstract

Contact-free camera-based measurement of cognitive stress opens up new possibilities for human-computer interaction with applications in remote learning, stress monitoring, and optimization of workload for user experience. The autonomic nervous system controls the inter-beat intervals of the heart and breathing patterns, and these signals change under cognitive stress. We built a participant-independent cognitive stress recognition model based on photoplethysmographic signals measured remotely at a distance of 3 meters. We tested the model on naturalistic responses from 10 individuals completing randomizedorder computer-based tasks (ball control and card sorting). The system successfully detected increased stress during the tasks, which were consistent with self-report measures. Changes in heart rate variability were more discriminative indicators of cognitive stress than were heart rate and breathing rate.