How you type and move your mouse could predict your stress level at work: Swiss study

Researchers out of Switzerland say how a person types or clicks could be a better predictor of their stress level at work than their heart rate.

The findings come from a small recent study at ETH Zurich, published in the Journal of Biomedical Informatics, which found that stressed people move their mouse more often and less precisely, and make more mistakes while typing.

Using their model, researchers say employees could prevent chronic stress earlier.

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"We were surprised that typing and mouse behaviour was a better predictor of how stressed subjects felt better than heart rate," Mara Nagelin, study author, mathematician and researcher at ETH Zurich, said in a news release last week.

The researchers observed 90 participants perform office tasks, such as planning appointments or data analysis, and recorded their mouse and keyboard movements and heart rates.

Forty-four participants were female and the mean age was about 23. Each person also filled out a sociodemographic and psychological questionnaire.

The researchers asked participants to act as employees at a fictional insurance company.

Participants either worked undisturbed or took part in a job interview and were repeatedly interrupted by chat messages.

Researchers also asked participants several times how stressed they felt.

The study found that those who were stressed made more mistakes while typing, writing in "fits and starts with many brief pauses," while relaxed people took fewer but longer pauses.

Stressed participants also moved their mouse more often and less precisely, covering a longer distance.

Those who were relaxed spent more time moving their mouse but did so in shorter, more direct movements.

Nagelin says participants' heart rates did not differ much between the groups compared to other studies, possibly because those who worked undisturbed also had assigned tasks.

"Increased levels of stress negatively impact our brain's ability to process information. This also affects our motor skills," psychologist Jasmine Kerr, a co-author of the study who conducts research with Nagelin, said.

This phenomenon, known as neuromotor noise theory, could explain the connection between stress, typing and mouse movements, the researchers say.

While their model could help detect stress, the researchers acknowledged that it does raise some privacy concerns.

"The only way people will accept and use our technology is if we can guarantee that we will anonymize and protect their data," Kerr said. "We want to help workers to identify stress early, not create a monitoring tool for companies."

The researchers say the experiment only involved a single session over a couple of hours in a simulated office environment, where the participants were healthy, mostly young, white university students.

Participants also had no prior experience with the experiment software and the researchers say employees in a real office would have more tasks to do — some easier or more complex — and possibly years of experience.

The devices used to measure heart rate also were "too cumbersome and obtrusive to be worn continuously during working hours," the study says.

The researchers say they are testing their model using a group of Swiss employees who agreed to have their mouse and keyboard movements, heart rates and perceived stress levels recorded through an app, the results of which could be available by the end of the year.

They say they are also looking at what features would be necessary to ensure user data is handled responsibly.