A case study on monitoring reaction times with a wearable user interface during daily life

Abstract

Reaction time tests are known as sensitive tests for measuring cognitive efficiency, cognitive decline, early attention complaints, and memory impairments. A main drawback of existing computer-based reaction time tests is their incompatibility with daily life. As a consequence, it is not feasible so far to assess variations in cognitive efficiency which are caused by influencing factors occurring in daily life. In order to overcome this limitation, in recent work, we have designed and implemented a wearable watch-like reaction time test tool. In this contribution, we present a case study when employing the wearable reaction time test in the work environment of a graphic designer. We show that our tool allows to continuously collect reaction times throughout 15 working days. Besides collecting reaction times, we employed an experience sampling method to gather subjective data on mood and perceived workload. The correlation analysis showed that mean reaction time is significantly positive correlated with mental and temporal demand. High level of arousal results in slowing of reaction times and higher variability whereas a low arousal results in lower variability of reaction times.