Researchers Aim To "Read Minds" of PC Users 121
hhavensteincw writes "Scientists at Tufts University are researching the use of light aimed at the forehead to measure the stress, work overload, or distraction a computer user may be feeling, as a way to adjust the UI to adapt to a user's emotional state. The research combines biomedical engineering and machine learning to adjust the UI. The project, which requires users to wear a futuristic head band, uses light to measure the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain that signals a user's rising stress levels typically associated with increasingly difficult tasks."
Does it run as a daemon? (Score:4, Funny)
How would it adjust the UI to fit his mood? Perhaps a soothing blue would be in order.
Re:Does it run as a daemon? (Score:5, Insightful)
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And I bet a case of beer that the first PHB to purchase the device will put it to use as a lie detector in teleconference meetings straight away: "Jones, your stress levels have increased when we discussed the project deadlines. Are you hiding something?"
No thanks, I would not like something like that hooked up to my computer...
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That's company's computer to you. You don't get to say what will be hooked to it.
Hmm, now that you've mentioned that, are you hiding something about project deadlines?
Your boss
Joke aside, congratulation, you've done it... after your quite juicy advertising the benefits to PHBs (depiction of inflicted fear and PHB undisturbed domination), they WILL make it mandatory!
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Your Boss
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Well, they are using the colour of your forehead to determine how many times you have whacked your head into the screen in desperation recently, which probably correlates well with your stress level.
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Re:Does it run as a daemon? (Score:4, Funny)
I'm on Windows here, and I find it incredibly annoying when the UI changes to 'soothing blue'.
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haw
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"rm -fr
^--- Notice the space
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Would you want me to help you writing your resignation letter ?
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Yup (Score:4, Funny)
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I, for one, ... (Score:3, Funny)
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Great! (Score:2, Funny)
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Well sure, any technology can be used by the dark side, but your statement reeks of paranoia and foot-in-mouth syndrome. A big issue in modern desktop systems is information overload. If you boot up a windows computer that hasn't been on in a year, it'll spend about the first 10 minutes randomly pestering you with things (new updates available, unused icons on the desktop, unused icons in the
2001 (Score:5, Funny)
Aha. I always wondered what HAL's light was for...
"Look Dave, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over."
If my computer "adjusts" its UI the way HAL did, I'm gonna kick it's ass...
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And if I keep making stupid mistakes like saying "it's" when I meant "its", I'm gonna kick my ass...
Re:2001 (Score:4, Funny)
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the UI... (Score:1)
nothing new, nothing useful (Score:3, Interesting)
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And if so, would that cause me to get stressed automatically just so the compuer would be snappier? On the other hand, this technology could be useful for Vista. Once you've seen the tenth "Allow/Deny?" dialog and are agitated, it stops bothering you. But I've seen this story several times now and it always sounds totally stupid; make computers as un-stressful as possible to use in the first place.
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p0rn and P2P.
nothing to see here, move along.
Lightweight and Gentle?? (Score:1)
Hi Jacob, this is the military, I mean errr the National Science Foundation, we're backing off your funding, it seems that we misunderstood the specs you had given wherein you mentioned headbands and optical beams...
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Easy (Score:2)
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Hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
I simply don't get it, if they think they can make programs work safer/faster/better, why can't they do this without the need for me to be stressed.
Seriously... (Score:3, Interesting)
Lets say that you application
How would you want an application that you use or develop to changes it workings depending on this?
There's an example of workload sharing in TFA, but really, there's a fine line between "this person is stressed and working well with that", and "this person is overstressed, and we better share the load a bit".
And for everyday use... "You seem stressed - I'll delay all your incoming mails (including the one you are stressed over not having arrived yet)"
I just don't think our computers are intelligent enough right now to use this information to anything useful...
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It could be useful (the stress-reading portion, anyway) for UI testing. People can't always clearly remember/articulate problems with an interface, this could give you pretty accurate feedback.
It could also have applications in learning management systems.
But at this point it sounds like a solution in search of a problem.
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Social networking. The kids, what with their rock n' roll, baggy pants, facebook and whatnot, love this kind of thing. I seriously think that if they manged to get this fashionable, the current middle/high school set would pay their parents money every which way to have "Mood: Crinkly forehead emo" automatically updating on their networking system of choice.
Later down the road, I could see this 'possibly' working with more wired environments. Think a smarthouse that's noti
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Word on the street is that Left 4 Dead [wikipedia.org] is trying this sort of thing in its game design. (See "The Director")
A game that knows when to turn up the pressure, and then relieve it, would be incredibly fun if done correctly.
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You're thinking in too narrow of a focus. The more general problem besides stress-measurement is attention modeling. If your computer can identify the general notion of what you're doing ("he's busy, don't bother him" vs. "he's just surfing the web, him him with distractions!"), it is one step towards not distracting you when you're in the middle of getting work done.
Think about it... you're furiously working on a problem... lots of mouse and keyboard activity... you
Yeah.... No! (Score:1)
Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
1. You're late for a presentation
2. You fire up PowerPoint in a desperate attempt to make some crucial changes to keep your potential customers happy
3. Your computer sees that you're stressed... which it considers to be unhealthy
4. Then Clippy pops up and says 'I can't do that Dave'!
Arggg - I am Cliipy's brain! (Score:2)
Clippy with a direct feed from the users brain would be like a tinfoil hat infected with a CIA root kit. Mark my words: They have been plugging mice into computers for decades, mice are the ideal lab animal, it won't be long before corporate technology is able to reproduce tinfoil hats, soon as you put on the infected hat - bam - they suck your brain so dry that start voting for your favorite on "Big Brother".
It's called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (Score:2)
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/what-is-fu [psychcentral.com]
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Look the data is already in (Score:2, Funny)
Microsoft PC user: I've been pwned.
Macintosh PC user: Steve Jobs glow is supernatural.
Linux PC user: Microsoft die! die! die!
BSD PC user: Not dead yet.
Call me Kreskin.
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The software end of the system (Score:1)
Yup, that'll calm the user right down...
Reading minds?? (Score:1)
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Sounds like you should be using a CLI!
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at last, progress! (Score:1)
And then what? (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, if there's a way the computer can make my life easier, it should do that already rather than wait until I'm stressed out.
Strange loops (Score:1)
Also: "We're picking up very lightweight, subtle information," Jacob said. "We're not always sure we're getting perfect information, so we have to respond in a lightweight way. We've got to respond in gentle ways." Does subtle here mean rough? Lightweight as in fuzzy? This clears it all about it's usefulness, Eliza3000...
Compulsory Vista joke (Score:2, Funny)
I'm thinking "Sniper!" (Score:2)
Is there a video game concept here? Real-life Gears of War or something?
Good intention but bad effect (Score:2)
In such moments I'd rather prefer consistency and things I know. The errors I know, the controls I know, in the position and colors I know.
Yeah? Well I don't care if it reads my mind. (Score:1)
It's been done. (Score:2)
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http://www.c-wilkie.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/jokes/pages/word1.html [blueyonder.co.uk]
Dupe (Score:1)
This is why apple does well (Score:5, Insightful)
This is one of those few times when I find myself wishing for more female representation. For some reason, male geeks just don't seem to understand the publics fashion sense. Futuristic headband=dork headgear. The look is 'more' important than the functionality when it comes to getting anything which needs to be worn out the door. And if it means a headband, it's never going to get into public use.
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Stressful UI (Score:2, Insightful)
And you thought... (Score:1)
pre viz ... (Score:1)
on a lighter note,
- level 1: UI starts lagging behind you, menu starts to flutter slowly, waiting cursor zooms in out a little to grab attention
- level 2: Applications become non-responsive, screen fades in and out slowly and cursor blinking almost stops (which raises stress to a further level)
- level 3, triggers as the voice recognition interprets f'in words frequently, and it locks everything takes user to an online yoga class
but seriously, I think whoever sits in fron
It changes the UI when you're stressed? (Score:2, Insightful)
1. You're stressed about having to learn a new interface
2. The interface changes
3. See #1
Photo of the Lead Researcher (Score:1)
I had a concept about this at one point (Score:2)
Head band? Bah (Score:2)
Cancel (Score:2)
You are being distracted.
Cancel or allow?
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Interaction design (Score:1)
However, having more socially intelligent people running usability tests might prove a better solution in the long run. But then again we can't play around with gadgets and get printouts of nice charts of the stres
chip reader (Score:2)
( HUMAN CMDRGRAVY HAS BEEN SEDATED, HE WILL BE UNAVAILABLE FOR FURTHER COMMENT FOR SOME TIME )
Old news.. (Score:1)
Light aimed at forehead? (Score:2)
THANKYOU VERY MUCH (Score:2)
You recommended I install openSUSE and KDE and I just wanted to say I've done both and it was dead easy to install. Much easier then Windows. I've used it for a little bit and there is a learning curve, but already I'm seeing the advantages to the differences. So thankyou very much for recommending both.
That's the hard way... (Score:2)
It would be much easier just to log Slashdot access.
Apply directly to the forehead! (Score:2)
Laser! Apply directly to the forehead!
Laser! Apply directly to the forehead!
Laser! Apply directly to the forehead!
Laser is available without a prescription at research institutions nationwide.
Potential in Chat Programs (Score:1)
Yeah, I'm sitting at work getting frustrated and.. (Score:2)
"And 3... 2.. and Spike!" (Score:2)
What? (Score:1)
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Wrong Organ (Score:2)
Trivia: Natalie Portman's paper on related topic (Score:2)
Finally... (Score:2, Funny)
I can get 90% accuracy! (Score:2)
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