Researchers at Cambridge University have come up with a new smartphone app that can track a user's mood by analysing the data on their phone.
Well, there are apps for almost every purpose in the world. And now there's an app that can track your mood as well. The app called, Emotion Sense, is designed to track user's mood throughout the day on the smartphone and can even become a pocket therapist.
Available for Android platform, the free application has been designed and developed by University of Cambridge's Computer Laboratory. The app uses the concept that the phones are one of the best resources of gathering information about a user's location, ambience of their environments as well as with whom one is communicating. The app monitors data such as patern of user's calling and texting in a bid to track conversation and determine how one is feeling.
The app uses the smartphones's built-in GPS, accelerometer and microphone to monitor a user's habits, activities and routines. After the phone has gathered the necessary information, the app asks a brief survey to complete to determine the emotional state. The app will pop up to ask how the person is feeling, rate their mood, from positive to negative.
Dr Neal Lathia, who works on the project, said: “Behind the scenes, smartphones are constantly collecting data that can turn them into a key medical and psychological tool.In the long term, we hope to be able to extract that data so that, for example, it can be used for therapeutic purposes”
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Cecilia Mascolo, a reader in mobile systems at the Cambridge Computer Lab, said: 'Most people who see a therapist may only have an appointment once every fortnight. Many, however, keep their phones with them most of the time. In terms of sheer presence, mobiles can provide an ongoing link with a person.”
“Most other attempts at software like this are coarse-grained in terms of their view of what a feeling is,” Jason Rentfrow, from Cambridge's department of psychology, said.
“Many just look at emotion in terms of feeling happy, sad, angry or neutral. The aim here is to use a more flexible approach, to collect data that shows how moods vary between people.”
Android users can download Emotion Sense app for free via Google Play store.
Source: Daily Mail
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