Cognitive rhythms: Unobtrusive and continuous sensing of alertness using a mobile phone

Saeed Abdullah, Elizabeth L. Murnane, Mark Matthews, Matthew Kay, Julie A. Kientz, Geri Gay, Tanzeem Choudhury

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

57 Scopus citations

Abstract

Throughout the day, our alertness levels change and our cognitive performance fluctuates. The creation of technology that can adapt to such variations requires reliable measurement with ecological validity. Our study is the first to collect alertness data in the wild using the clinically validated Psychomotor Vigilance Test. With 20 participants over 40 days, we find that alertness can oscillate approximately 30% depending on time and body clock type and that Daylight Savings Time, hours slept, and stimulant intake can influence alertness as well. Based on these findings, we develop novel methods for unobtrusively and continuously assessing alertness. In estimating response time, our model achieves a root-mean-square error of 80:64 milliseconds, which is significantly lower than the 500ms threshold used as a standard indicator of impaired cognitive ability. Finally, we discuss how such real-time detection of alertness is a key first step towards developing systems that are sensitive to our biological variations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationUbiComp 2016 - Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages178-189
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9781450344616
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 12 2016
Event2016 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2016 - Heidelberg, Germany
Duration: Sep 12 2016Sep 16 2016

Publication series

NameUbiComp 2016 - Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing

Other

Other2016 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2016
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityHeidelberg
Period9/12/169/16/16

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Information Systems
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction

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