What physiological and psychological reactions do we show when experiencing emotions? This is what our Faculty's researchers want to find out as part of the Emognition project. This is the first study of this type in the world and we are looking for people willing to participate in the program.

The team, Emognition consisting of scientists from our Faculty, want to study the relationship between our physiology and the emotions we experience.

The test consists in wearing such portable devices for measuring physiological reactions as smartwatches, fitbands and bands placed on the chest, which will collect data on reactions to everyday situations. It is also necessary to temporarily switch from your private phone to a smartphone provided by the research team.

– The tests are open to adults who are not undergoing psychopharmacological therapy and do not suffer from heart and circulatory system diseases – says Adam Hebko from the Emognition team. – The participants will be using the equipment for four weeks and completing short surveys about their well-being and emotions several times a day – he adds.

The data will be collected e.g. on the pulse rate and other parameters related to situations that evoke emotions. The first stage of the test is a visit to the laboratory at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. That is when participants learn about the rules of the program and receive the necessary equipment.

– We can easily evoke emotions in laboratory conditions, but so far there have been no studies of emotions we feel in our everyday lives. The project will result inter alia in a unique set of such data, which we want to make available to researchers from around the world – explains Prof. Przemysław Kazienko from the Department of Artificial Intelligence. – We also hope to develop models that can recognize emotions from physiological signals. Such solutions can be used in medicine, for example to predict hypoglycaemia in people with diabetes – he adds.

About 250 people will take part in the program. The data will be collected monthly from a group of 25-30 volunteers. The participants will receive a gift worth up to PLN 450.

The project is carried out under a grant from the National Science Centre and with the consent of the Bioethics Committee. The personal data of the participants will be anonymized and they will be allowed to quit the experiment at any time.

The application form can be found on the Emognition Facebook Page.