Towards a Computer Interaction-Based Mood Measurement Instrument

The purpose of this explorative research was to explore the mood of a computer user and his or her use of keyboard and mouse. Twenty-six users (13 programmers and 13 frequent computer users) took part in the study. A background software application executing on participants’ computers logged the keyboard key press and mouse click events. The correlations between moods of the participants and their use of keyboard and mouse show that it might be possible to create individual tailor made mood measures based on individuals keyboard and mouse use. The highest and lowest significant correlations found were r (63) = 0.39, p<= 0.01 and r (73) = -0.24, p<= 0.05 respectively. About 31% of participants showed significant correlations towards valence whereas about 27% showed significant correlations toward arousal. Further, the data shows that experience and self discipline might be a factor to predict people who show significant correlation between their behaviour and valence level. Similarly dutifulness might help in predicting people who show significant correlation between their behaviour and arousal level.