Computers May Soon Be Able To Ascertain If You Are Facing Boredom

Feeling Bored? You might suddenly hear a warning signal from the computer in front of you. A team of researchers led by Dr Harry Witchel, Discipline Leader in Physiology at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) has engineered a method to thoroughly analyse human involuntary movements.

Named as “non-instrumental” movements, Witchel explained that these are short signs that a human exhibits constantly. If a particular scene interests a human, it captures his concentration, which in turn reduces the involuntary movements. Engagement with a particular object or site stimulates the mind, which signals to the brain to suppress movements that generally take place in idle minds.
The press release confirmed that their research will advance Artificial Intelligence based systems and upgrade their contemporary applications. Online tutoring programs, such as MOOCs would get immense benefit from this endeavor. Systems would be able to rate the contents with respect to students’ interest level. Further alterations of the contents would attract the minds of students more than ever.

In the study, 27 participants underwent a challenge where they were shown a 3-minute program on a computer screen consisting of fascinating games to tedious readings from EU banking regulation. While watching, they held a manually controlled pointing device such as a mouse which precisely detected the body movements. The measured movements demonstrated that more engaging topics reduced non instrumental movements by 42%.

According to the team, their result could have a revolutionary impact on intelligent devices and change the scenario. The research was jointly supported by the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, in collaboration with NHS organizations.

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