According to a study published in the IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing journal, artificial intelligence can now tell you how well a date went by measuring a person’s sweat, breathing patterns, and heart rate.
The research is the first of its kind to “tell if you’re a bore” using only vital signs.
Engineers at the University of Cincinnati trained a computer to identify the type of conversation two people are having based on their physiological responses using data from wearable technology.
Sixteen pairs of participants discussed topics on which they could either strongly agree or disagree before engaging in four different conversations: a positive conversation in which they happily discussed a topic on which they agreed, a negative conversation in which they unhappily discussed a topic on which they disagreed, a neutral conversation in which they discussed a topic on which they disagreed,
Sixteen pairs of participants discussed topics that they could either strongly agree or disagree on before having four different conversations: a positive conversation where they happily discussed a topic they agreed on, a negative conversation where they unhappily discussed something they disagreed on and two conversations about an agreeable topic where each person took turns leading the discussion.
Al was able to determine between four different conversation scenarios with a 75% accuracy rate – even when the conversation was occurring virtually over Zoom.
The results rely on the phenomenon known as
“physiological synchrony,” which can show how engaged people are by how their heart rate, respiration rate and perspiration rates all align – and lead researcher Iman Chatterjee said the phenomenon is likely a part of evolutionary adaptation.
He explained that humans evolve to share and collaborate, which can manifest in the subconscious.
