Are you stressed at the office? Your keyboard behavior betrays this better than your heart rate

A new artificial intelligence can detect stress at work based on keyboard and mouse behavior. Predicting stress based on this data is even more reliable than heart rate measurements.

The model developed by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) could prevent permanent stress at work at an early stage in the future, the university said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the study recently published in the “Journal of Biomedical Informatics,” people who are stressed tend to move the mouse pointer more often and less precisely and travel longer distances on the screen. Relaxed people, on the other hand, reach their destination via shorter, more direct routes and take their time.

In addition, people who feel stressed in the office make more typing mistakes. Her writing style follows a stop-and-go logic with many short pauses. Relaxed people take fewer, longer breaks when typing on a keyboard.

To develop the stress model, the ETH researchers observed 90 people in the lab performing office tasks as realistic as possible, such as scheduling appointments or collecting and analyzing data. They recorded mouse and keyboard behavior and heart rate.

While part of the test subjects could work undisturbed, another part of the test subjects also had to undergo a conversation. Half of them were also repeatedly interrupted by chat messages.

The researchers are currently testing their model with data from Swiss employees who have agreed to have their mouse and keyboard behavior and heart data recorded directly at work using an app. (saw/sda)