Wireless Health Monitoring

Abstract

Cognitive load (CL) refers to the total amount of mental resources used for completing a task in any instant. CL detection has a wide range of applications in human life, including having a more effective living and avoiding danger caused by cognitive overload. Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) had been recently suggested as an index of CL. Although GSR is not the most accurate tool for CL detection, it contains its own advantages to compensate this drawback. As GSR is an easily-captured and robust signal, a low cost and portable device can be made and it can be widely used in many situations. Experiment studies have indicated that CL level can be judged by analysis of GSR signal. However, the investigations are unilateral and not fully illustrated. Therefore, this research aims to provide a detailed analysis on CL detection using both Skin Conductance Level (SCL) and Skin Conductance Response (SCR). Subjects are going to finish tasks with different difficulty levels in both "no-stress" and "stressed" condition in this study. Analysis of Electromyography (EMG) signal will be used as a stress predictor for supporting this investigation. The analysed results will further be applied on a new designed free-recall test to observe its credibility on other types of application.