This is funding to enable the PI to explore an unexpected opportunity that has come to light during research funded under his current award (0414754) entitled "Interacting with Human Physiology." The new work will extend the scope of the project in a timely and important new direction. GSR (Galvanic Skin Response) is the most sensitive and specific physiological sensing mode for stress quantification during human-computer interaction. Under the existing grant, the PI has demonstrated that periorbital and supraorbital sensing can also quantify stress and be used in interactivity experiments. More importantly, periorbital and supraorbital sensing can be carried out at a distance (via thermal imaging) and on an easily accessible tissue area (the face). These are tremendous advantages, because the user is left undisturbed. Recently, the PI has identified a channel on the maxillary area, which is of the same cholinergic nature as the palm channel that GSR measures, and has begun to develop a comprehensive theory that accounts for all facial channels (periorbital, supraorbital, and maxillary) and quantifies them against GSR, the emerging result being a "facial GSR channel-at-a-distance." This is a potential breakthrough, as it identifies a contact-free measurement method that can provably perform as well as the best contact method (GSR) in psycho-physiological studies. This funding will allow the PI to address initially technical challenges that remain unsolved, which relate to degradation of the facial signals due to residual imperfections in segmentation and tracking. The major portion of the new effort will concentrate on exploration of interactivity issues where the integrated methodology will be compared vis-a-vis the traditional GSR technology, with a focus on mission critical software.
Broader Impacts: A portion of this funding will provide for the organization of the first workshop of its kind on "Physiological Monitoring 24/7 and its Interactivity Potential" that will be hosted in late August at the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference to be held in Lyon, France. The University of Lyon has kindly provided a conference room for this event and identified a few dorm rooms that can be used to house graduate student participants, which will greatly reduce the cost to NSF.
