Stress is a common concern in modern workplaces. However, traditional stress measurements such as selfreported questionnaires have limited application in real-world settings. In this exploratory study, we collected physiological signals via a wristband and an eye tracker from five participants while they were executing a stress-inducing task. Our mixed-effect model revealed that several physiological responses, including electrodermal activity, skin temperature, and average pupil diameter, can be used as indicators of perceived stress levels. Our findings suggest the potential of using physiological sensors to monitor individuals’ perceived stress in real-world scenarios and thus facilitate workplace stress management and intervention.
AffanniA. (2020). Wireless sensors system for stress detection by means of ECG and EDA acquisition. Sensors, 20(7), 2026.
2.
BasnerM.DingesD. F.SheaJ. A.SmallD. S.ZhuJ.NortonL.… VolppK. G. (2017). Sleep and alertness in medical interns and residents: an observational study on the role of extended shifts. Sleep, 40(4).
3.
BatesD.MächlerM.BolkerB.WalkerS. (2014). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.5823.
4.
BeiterR.NashR.McCradyM.RhoadesD.LinscombM.ClarahanM.SammutS. (2015). The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. Journal of affective disorders, 173, 90-96.
5.
BertilssonJ.NiehorsterD. C.FredrikssonP. J.DahlM.GranérS.FredrikssonO.… NyströmM. (2019). Stress levels escalate when repeatedly performing tasks involving threats. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1562.
6.
CarneyC. E.BuysseD. J.Ancoli-IsraelS.EdingerJ. D.KrystalA. D.LichsteinK. L.MorinC. M. (2012). The consensus sleep diary: standardizing prospective sleep self-monitoring. Sleep, 35(2), 287-302.
7.
ChenJ.AbbodM.ShiehJ. S. (2021). Pain and stress detection using wearable sensors and devices—A review. Sensors, 21(4), 1030.
8.
CleggA. (2001). Occupational stress in nursing: a review of the literature. Journal of nursing management, 9(2), 101106.
9.
de Arriba PerezF.Santos-GagoJ. M.Caeiro-RodríguezM.IglesiasM. J. F. (2018). Evaluation of commercial-off-the-shelf wrist wearables to estimate stress on students. JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments), (136), e57590.
10.
DriskellJ. E.SalasE. (2013). Stress and human performance. Psychology Press.
11.
EhrhardtN. M.FietzJ.Kopf-BeckJ.KappelmannN.BremA. K. (2022). Separating EEG correlates of stress: Cognitive effort, time pressure, and social-evaluative threat. European journal of neuroscience, 55(9-10), 2464-2473.
12.
Figueroa-FankhanelF. (2014). Measurement of stress. Psychiatric Clinics, 37(4), 455-487.
13.
FinkeJ. B.ZhangX.PleinD.SchillingT. M.SchächingerH.LarraM. F. (2021). Combining mental and physical stress: synergy or interference?. Physiology & Behavior, 233, 113365.
14.
FowlerL. A.EllisS. (2019). The effect of 12 hour shifts, time of day, and sleepiness on emotional empathy and burnout in medical students. Clocks & Sleep, 1(4), 501509.
15.
GronwallD. M. A. (1977). Paced auditory serial-addition task: a measure of recovery from concussion. Perceptual and motor skills, 44(2), 367-373.
16.
HeltonW. S. (2004, September). Validation of a short stress state questionnaire. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (vol.48, No. 11, pp. 1238-1242). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
17.
HeltonW. S.FieldsD.ThoresonJ. A. (2005, September). Assessing daily stress with the Short Stress State Questionnaire (SSSQ): Relationships with cognitive slips-failures. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (vol.49, No. 10, pp. 886-890). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
18.
KarthikeyanP.MurugappanM.YaacobS. (2012). Descriptive analysis of skin temperature variability of sympathetic nervous system activity in stress. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 24(12), 1341-1344.
19.
LejuezC. W.KahlerC. W.BrownR. A. (2003). A modified computer version of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) as a laboratory-based stressor. The Behavior Therapist, 26(4), 290–293.
20.
PappK. K.StollerE. P.SageP.AikensJ. E.OwensJ.AvidanA.… StrohlK. P. (2004). The effects of sleep loss and fatigue on resident–physicians: A multiinstitutional, mixed-method study. Academic Medicine, 79(5), 394-406.
21.
MatthewsG.SzalmaJ.PanganibanA. R.NeubauerC.WarmJ. S. (2013). Profiling task stress with the dundee stress state questionnaire. Psychology of stress: New research, 1, 49-90.
22.
MinkelJ. D.BanksS.HtaikO.MoretaM. C.JonesC. W.McGlincheyE. L.… DingesD. F. (2012). Sleep deprivation and stressors: evidence for elevated negative affect in response to mild stressors when sleep deprived. Emotion, 12(5), 1015.
23.
MudassarM.KalatianA.FarooqB. (2021). Analysis of pedestrian stress level using gsr sensor in virtual immersive reality. arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.11492.
24.
MuellerS. T.PiperB. J. (2014). The Psychology Experiment Building Language (PEBL) and PEBL Test Battery. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 222, 250-259. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2013.10.024.
25.
NolletM.WisdenW.FranksN. P. (2020). Sleep deprivation and stress: a reciprocal relationship. Interface focus, 10(3), 20190092.
26.
ParlakO. (2021). Portable and wearable real-time stress monitoring: A critical review. Sensors and Actuators Reports, 3, 100036.
27.
PedrottiM.MirzaeiM. A.TedescoA.ChardonnetJ. R.MérienneF.BenedettoS.BaccinoT. (2014). Automatic stress classification with pupil diameter analysis. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 30(3), 220-236.
28.
R Core Team (2020). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/.
29.
RochaM. C. P. D.MartinoM. M. F. D. (2010). Stress and sleep quality of nurses working different hospital shifts. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 44, 280-286.
30.
SetzC.ArnrichB.SchummJ.La MarcaR.TrösterG.EhlertU. (2009). Discriminating stress from cognitive load using a wearable EDA device. IEEE Transactions on information technology in biomedicine, 14(2), 410417.
31.
TanosotoT.BendixenK. H.ArimaT.HansenJ.TerkelsenA. J.SvenssonP. (2015). Effects of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) with different rates on autonomic nervous system responses and self-reported levels of stress. Journal of oral rehabilitation, 42(5), 378-385.
32.
VillarejoM. V.ZapirainB. G.ZorrillaA. M. (2012). A stress a on Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) controlled by ZigBee. Sensors, 12(5), 6075-6101.
33.
VinkersC. H.PenningR.HellhammerJ.VersterJ. C.KlaessensJ. H.OlivierB.KalkmanC. J. (2013). The effect of stress on core and peripheral body temperature in humans. Stress, 16(5), 520-530.
34.
YamakoshiT.YamakoshiK. I.TanakaS.NogawaM.ParkS. B.ShibataM.… HiroseY. (2008, August). Feasibility study on driver’s stress detection from differential skin temperature measurement. In 2008 30th annual international conference of the ieee engineering in medicine and biology society (pp. 1076-1079). IEEE.
35.
YangX.McCoyE.Anaya-BoigE.Avila-PalenciaI.BrandC.Carrasco-TurigasG.… De NazelleA. (2021). The effects of traveling in different transport modes on galvanic skin response (GSR) as a measure of stress: An observational study. Environment International, 156, 106764.
