AlertnessScanner: This smartphone tool can track your alertness at work
Traditional methods of analysing alertness tend to be cumbersome, often including devices that must be worn. Scientists have developed a smartphone tool that can track a person’s alertness at work and identify when one is most productive. The tool called AlertnessScanner developed by researchers at Cornell University in the US measures pupil size, captured through a burst of photographs taken every time users unlock their smartphones. “Since our alertness fluctuates, if we can find a pattern it will be very useful to manage and schedule our day,” said Vincent W S Tseng, a doctoral student at Cornell. Traditional methods of analysing alertness tend to be cumbersome, often including devices that must be worn. Researchers wanted to create a way to measure alertness unobtrusively and continuously. “Since people use their phones very frequently during the day, we were thinking we could use phones as an instrument to understand and measure their alertness,” Tseng said. “And sin...
