In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Avinash Wesley

will defend his dissertation

Eustressed or Distressed? Combining Physiology with Observation in Stress Studies

Abstract

In this research I have proposed a novel dimensional model of stress that combines a physiological and an observational information channel to make more informed stress analysis. The method enables not only the quantification of arousing emotional states but also their disambiguation into positive or negative instances. The physiological channel targets sympathetic responses and is materialized as a perspiratory signal extracted from thermal imagery of the perinasal area. The observational channel is materialized via decoding of facial expressions. However, while such decoding is usually performed in the visible spectrum, I have developed an algorithm to carry this out in thermal imagery instead. Thus, thermal imaging is used for both physiological and observational analysis. The potential of this dual unobtrusive methodology is demonstrated with some examples from two stress studies.

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2015
Time: 10:00 AM
Place: Health and Biomedical Sciences Building: Conference Room 352
Advisor: Prof. Ioannis Pavlidis

Faculty, students, and the general public are invited.