2025-10-15 ヒューストン大学
Researchers at the University of Houston’s Affective and Data Computing Laboratory (ACDC Lab) found that facial self-touching — particularly around the nose, chin and cheeks — strongly correlates with stress levels during cognitive work.
<関連情報>
- https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2025/october/10152025-spontaneous-facial-self-touching-study.php
- https://www.cpl.uh.edu/images/publication_files/C81-New.pdf
顔への自己接触は知識労働における精神的ストレスと関連している Facial Self-Touches Are Associated With Mental Stress in Knowledge Work
Fettah Kiran,Tanim Hasan,Kaushik Ganeshan,Gayatri Bhatambarekar,Abhijit Sarkar,Ioannis Pavlidis
2025 13th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII)
Abstract
We investigate the affective role of spontaneous facial self-touch (sFST) during cognitive tasks. For that, we analyze the open desk-bound knowledge work (DKW) dataset. The dataset was collected through a naturalistic study of 10 academic researchers while working in their university office for four days. It includes behavioral, situational, and dispositional data from ∼170 hours of continuous recordings. Using a MobileNet CNN, we labeled facial video frames with sFST information. Then we used these categorical variables along with other contextual predictors to explain the sympathetic overactivity of the participants. Sympathetic responses were quantified through facial electrodermal activity (fEDA). The results of the relevant multiple regression model suggest that there is a strong positive association between the frequency of chin-cheek-nose sFST and sympathetic overactivity. Although it has been ignored in the affective computing literature, lower-face self-touch is a solid indicator of sympathetic overactivity, which is a proxy of mental stress
