ABSTRACT
Cognitive capabilities vary considerably due to people’s different levels of expertise and aptitude. Identifying emotions is a complex process and it may not always be necessary to know the precise emotion. If other information such as performance data and focus of attention are available, it may be sufficient to only sense changes in the physiological data. Sensors are connected to an electrically isolated micro-controller, which converts the analog sensor signals to digital data for processing, by a master computer. The sensors are not attached to a substantial thermal mass that would reduce the response rate, and the minimum detectable change of temperature is calculated to be 0.005 C. The sensor also detects the mean reflected light, which is used to determine the optimum amount of pressure to be applied to the sensor. Physiological data, collected from people as they use computers to form their tasks, might not consistently predict their emotional state.
