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Cited by 17Personal Information Management and User BehaviorTechnostress in Professional SettingsHuman-Automation Interaction and Safety

Stress and productivity patterns of interrupted, synergistic, and antagonistic office activities

Open access
Zaman, Shaila, Wesley, Amanveer, Silva, Dennis Rodrigo Da Cunha, Buddharaju, Pradeep, Akbar, Fatema, Gao, Ge, Mark, Gloria, Gutierrez-Osuna, Ricardo +1 more·2019·Scientific Data
DOI 10.1038/s41597-019-0249-5PMC PMC6841929
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Abstract

We describe a controlled experiment, aiming to study productivity and stress effects of email interruptions and activity interactions in the modern office. The measurement set includes multimodal data for n = 63 knowledge workers who volunteered for this experiment and were randomly assigned into four groups: (G1/G2) Batch email interruptions with/without exogenous stress. (G3/G4) Continual email interruptions with/without exogenous stress. To provide context, the experiment’s email treatments were surrounded by typical office tasks. The captured variables include physiological indicators of stress, measures of report writing quality and keystroke dynamics, as well as psychometric scores and biographic information detailing participants’ profiles. Investigations powered by this dataset are expected to lead to personalized recommendations for handling email interruptions and a deeper understanding of synergistic and antagonistic office activities. Given the centrality of email in the modern office, and the importance of office work to people’s lives and the economy, the present data have a valuable role to play.

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This data descriptor presents a controlled office experiment with n = 63 knowledge workers randomly assigned to batch/continual email and high/low anticipatory stress conditions, yielding multimodal physiological, keystroke, report, and psychometric data. Validation shows perinasal perspiration tracks stress across treatments, whereas wrist EDA and wrist heart rate fail, and breathing/chest heart rate have task-specific limits.

Key findings

  • The working dataset contains n = 63 participants from 96 volunteers; 33 were excluded due to technical recording issues. Group sizes were BH n = 15, BL n = 14, CH n = 17, CL n = 17; 28 consented to public release of all data (OPTION A) and 35 did not consent to release of identifying video (OPTION B).
  • Perinasal perspiration captured stress effects across groups: ST p < 0.05 or better, Stroop p < 0.05, DT p < 0.01 or better, and PR p < 0.001. Wrist EDA showed no significant arousal elevation for any treatment (p > 0.05), and wrist HR also showed no significant elevation (p > 0.05).
  • Breathing rate captured ST across groups (BH p < 0.001; BL, CH, CL p < 0.01), Stroop in BH p < 0.01 and CH p < 0.05, and DT only in BL and CL (p < 0.05), while missing DT in BH/CH and missing PR in all groups (p > 0.05). Chest HR captured PR (BH p < 0.01; CH Wilcoxon; BL, CL p < 0.05) but largely missed ST, DT, and Stroop.
  • Report analyses found DT reports had significantly higher quality than ST reports (p < 0.001), larger word and character counts (p < 0.001), more mechanics errors in DT (p < 0.001), more style errors in ST (p < 0.001), and more delete-key use in DT (p < 0.001). NASA-TLX indicated most participants perceived DT as mentally challenging, effortful, and under time pressure (p < 0.001), but not physically demanding or frustrating (p > 0.05).

Methods

  • A 2 × 2 factorial design crossed Email Mode {Batch, Continual} with Anticipatory Stressor {High, Low}. Participants completed five treatments: resting baseline (RB), single task (ST), priming (PM: Stroop or relaxing video), dual task (DT: 50 min report writing plus eight emails), and presentation (PR: 5 min oral presentation to a remote panel).
  • Multimodal data were acquired via thermal facial imaging for perinasal perspiration, E4 wrist EDA/heart rate, Zephyr chest breathing/heart rate, visual facial and operational theater cameras, screen capture, and keystroke logging. Questionnaires included Big Five Inventory, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, and NASA TLX; reports were scored with the ETS e-rater.
  • Analyses applied quality control (QC1 range/specification checks; QC2 noise or cross-modality checks), within-participant normalization against RB, and paired t-tests or paired Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, with significance at α = 0.05, 0.01, or 0.001.

Limitations

  • The paper states that wrist EDA cannot track participants’ stress and should be avoided in analytics for this experiment; wrist HR likewise cannot track stress and should be avoided. Breathing rate should not be used for the PR treatment because speech modulates breathing, while chest HR is complementary and valid for presentation but misses most other treatments.
  • The paper states that small per-group n after technical loss and quality-control rejections limits validity testing, and that the sample was not gender-balanced (45 female, 18 male; 70% F vs 30% M), mostly young adults (23.75 ± 8.76 yr), and mostly undergraduates.
  • Evident from the text: the office setting was a controlled laboratory with identical rooms and a pre-recorded actor panel for the presentation, so ecological validity for natural office work is limited; the email and report tasks were scripted rather than naturally occurring.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41597-019-0249-5

Cites

38 of 38 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Claims the paper makes

1 of 19 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged · accuracy not yet measured

  • Findingown data

    For neurotic individuals, batched email is more stressful than continually incoming email.

    “Analyzing a subset of the data presented in this paper, we reported in CHI’1913 that for neurotic individuals batched email is more stressful than continually incoming email.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [13] Akbar, F. et al. Email makes you sweat: Examining email interruptions and stress using thermal imaging. Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–14, 668 (2019). source
  • Findingown data

    Participants perform significantly more mechanics errors in DT reports (p < 0.001).

    “the participants perform significantly more mechanics errors in DT reports (p < 0.001, paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test)”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data

    DT reports have significantly higher quality than ST reports (p < 0.001, paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test).

    “Such hypothesis testing suggests the DT reports of participants have significantly higher quality than their ST reports (p < 0.001, paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Findingown data

    The overwhelming majority of participants declared either frequent or very frequent use of daily email.

    “the overwhelming majority of the participants declared either frequent or very frequent use of daily email (Supplemental Fig. S2d).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Findingown data

    Expressive Suppression is 14.34 ± 5.08 (range 4-28).

    “Expressive Suppression is at 14.34 ± 5.08 in a sub-scale that can range from 4 to 28.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • May combine two claims. 32
  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. 53
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 2

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationcitation

    Wrist EDA channel presents non-sensical trends, consistent with other reports in the literature.

    “the wrist EDA channel presents non-sensical trends, which is worrisome but consistent with other reports in the literature26.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim1 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [26] Tsiamyrtzis, P., Dcosta, M., Shastri, D., Prasad, E. & Pavlidis, I. Delineating the operational envelope of mobile and conventional eda sensing on key body locations. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 5665–5674 (ACM, 2016). source

      The Discussion reports significantly inferior wrist EDA measurements and difficulty even detecting sympathetic responses there, supporting concern about wrist signals. But the study tested small, standardized startle responses in seated subjects; it does not establish that wrist EDA trends are generally nonsensical or that multiple other reports reached that conclusion. (LLM, conf=0.82)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    0.11% of wrist heart rate data exceeded 140 bpm.

    “In E4 we found no heart rate data to be below 40 bpm, while we found 0.11% of the data to exceed 140 bpm.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    Invalid chest heart rate values were spread over 33 signals, which were removed.

    “These invalid data values were spread over 33 signals, which were removed from further consideration.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    5.19% of wrist EDA data were below 0.01 μS.

    “We found 5.19% of the wrist EDA data to be below 0.01 μS; we found no EDA data to be above 100 μS.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    The extraversion distribution is 26.08 ± 6.53 (range 8-40).

    “The extraversion distribution is at 26.08 ± 6.53 in a sub-scale that can range from 8 to 40.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    Invalid wrist EDA values were spread over 54 signals, which were removed.

    “The said invalid values were spread over 54 signals, which were removed from further consideration.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    No wrist EDA data were above 100 μS.

    “We found 5.19% of the wrist EDA data to be below 0.01 μS; we found no EDA data to be above 100 μS.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    Suspect wrist heart rate values were spread over seven signals, which were removed.

    “These suspect data values were spread over seven signals, which were removed.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    Invalid breathing rate values were spread over 12 signals, which were removed.

    “These invalid values were spread over 12 signals, which were removed from further consideration.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    The great majority of participants were young adults (23.75 ± 8.76 yr).

    “Supplemental Fig. S2a indicates that the great majority of the participants were young adults (23.75 ± 8.76 yr).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    No breathing rate data exceeded 40 bpm.

    “We found 0.22% of the breathing rate data to be below 4 bpm, while we did not find any data to exceed 40 bpm.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    Participants appeared highly confident about their writing proficiency.

    “the participants appeared highly confident about their writing proficiency (Supplemental Fig. S2c).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    0.01% of chest heart rate data exceeded 140 bpm.

    “In Zephyr BioHarness 3.0 we found 9.90% of the heart rate data to be below 40 bpm and 0.01% of the heart rate data to exceed 140 bpm.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    The great majority of participants were undergraduate students.

    “Supplemental Fig. S2e, which reveals that the great majority of the participants were undergraduate students.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingreasoning

    Violations of the lower bound were found exclusively in chest heart rate signals, while violations of the upper bound were found only in wrist heart rate signals.

    “violations of the lower bound were found exclusively in the chest heart rate signals, while violations of the upper bound were found only in the wrist heart rate signals.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    Among the participants, 45 were female and 18 were male.

    “Supplemental Fig. S2b shows that among the participants 45 were female (F) and 18 were male (M).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    The conscientiousness distribution is 31.28 ± 5.41 (range 9-45).

    “The conscientiousness distribution is at 31.28 ± 5.41 in a sub-scale that can range from 9 to 45.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    Participants found the task to be non-frustrating (p > 0.05, test of proportions in Frustration).

    “The participants also found the task to be non-frustrating (p > 0.05, test of proportions in Frustration).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    The openness distribution is 37.41 ± 5.94 (range 10-50), shifted towards the high-end, indicating that the majority of participants were open individuals.

    “The openness distribution is at 37.41 ± 5.94 in a sub-scale that can range from 10 to 50; thus, it is shifted towards the high-end of the sub-scale, indicating that the majority of participants were open individuals.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    The PSS distribution is 17.13 ± 5.68 (range 0-40), centered toward the middle of the scale and characterized by absence of extremes that would have confounded physiological responses.

    “The PSS distribution is at 17.13 ± 5.68 in a scale that can range from 0 to 40; thus, it is centered toward the middle of the scale and characterized by absence of extremes that would have confounded physiological responses.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    In Chest HR, long left tails of distributions were removed after quality control.

    “in Chest HR, the long left tails of the distributions in the original signal sets (left Chest HR panel) were removed (right Chest HR panel).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    Across the sub-scales of the three psychometric inventories, participant distributions feature a healthy spread, suggesting useful variability.

    “Across the sub-scales of these inventories participant distributions feature a healthy spread (Supplemental Fig. S3), suggesting the presence of useful variability.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    Cognitive Reappraisal is 32 ± 5.46 (range 6-42), shifted towards the high-end, indicating a cohort of participants capable of controlling emotions via reframing.

    “Cognitive Reappraisal is at 32 ± 5.46 in a sub-scale that can range from 6 to 42; thus, it is shifted towards the high-end of the sub-scale, indicating a cohort of participants capable of controlling emotions via reframing.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    9.90% of chest heart rate data were below 40 bpm.

    “In Zephyr BioHarness 3.0 we found 9.90% of the heart rate data to be below 40 bpm and 0.01% of the heart rate data to exceed 140 bpm.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). The quote only partly states this claim.

    Findingown data

    One additional chest heart rate signal was removed because of a preponderance of missing values.

    “One additional signal was removed because of a preponderance of missing values.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    0.22% of breathing rate data were below 4 bpm.

    “We found 0.22% of the breathing rate data to be below 4 bpm, while we did not find any data to exceed 40 bpm.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    No wrist heart rate data were below 40 bpm.

    “In E4 we found no heart rate data to be below 40 bpm, while we found 0.11% of the data to exceed 140 bpm.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    The neuroticism distribution is 22.11 ± 4.71 (range 8-40), centered near the middle of the sub-scale and characterized by absence of extremes that would have confounded physiological responses.

    “The neuroticism distribution is at 22.11 ± 4.71 in a sub-scale that can range from 8 to 40; thus, it is centered near the middle of the sub-scale and characterized by absence of extremes, which would have confounded physiological responses.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    In QC1 sets, there was significant association but no high linear correlation between chest and wrist heart rate (p = 0, r = 0.514).

    “In the QC1 sets, we found significant association but no high linear correlation between the two modalities (p = 0, r = 0.514, Pearson correlation) - Fig. 2a1.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingown data

    Five wrist EDA signals exhibited excessive high frequency noise patterns and were removed.

    “We found five EDA signals to exhibit such patterns and removed them from the dataset”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    The agreeableness distribution is 35.39 ± 5.01 (range 9-45), shifted towards the high-end, indicating that the majority of participants were agreeable individuals.

    “The agreeableness distribution is at 35.39 ± 5.01 in a sub-scale that can range from 9 to 45; thus, it is shifted towards the high-end of the sub-scale, indicating that the majority of participants were agreeable individuals.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • The quote only partly states this claim.

    Findingown data

    Perinasal perspiration captures well the stressful effect of PR across groups (p < 0.001).

    “and in PR (p < 0.001, paired t-test in all groups).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    In DT, breathing channel captures stress effects only for groups BL and CL (p < 0.05), missing them in BH and CH (p > 0.05).

    “In DT, the performance of the breathing channel deteriorates, capturing stress effects only for groups BL and CL (p < 0.05, paired t-tests in groups), while missing them in groups BH and CH (p > 0.05, paired t-tests in groups).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    Chest heart rate captures stressful effect of ST only in one group (BH, p < 0.001), misses in other three (p > 0.05).

    “it captures the stressful effect of ST only in one group (p < 0.001, paired t-test in BH), while misses it in the other three groups (p > 0.05, paired t-tests in BL, CL, paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test in CH).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Findingown data

    Chest heart rate captures stressful effect of DT only in one group (BL, p < 0.01), misses in other three (p > 0.05).

    “Similarly, it captures the stressful effect of DT only in one group (p < 0.01, paired t-test in BL), while misses it in the other three groups (p > 0.05, paired t-tests in BH, CL, paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test in CH).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The five opinion/advice email prompts were selected from a pilot study on MTurk, where 30 emails were presented to 270 workers, each to 9 workers, and the five with the highest mean word count in replies were chosen.

    “The five opinion/advice email prompts were chosen from a pilot study on MTurk, where an original selection of 30 emails were presented to 270 workers on the platform. Each email was presented to 9 different MTurk workers who were asked to compose a reply as if they worked for a company. Then, we selected the five emails that generated the highest mean word count in replies.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Interpretationown data

    Many of the dataset's channels and media are multidimensional, constituting an interrelated collection of long data ripe for machine learning.

    “Many of these channels and media are multidimensional (e.g., videos), constituting an interrelated collection of long data ripe for machine learning.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductown data

    The sample was not balanced for gender (70% female vs. 30% male).

    “We did not control for gender and thus the sample is not balanced, but still features a reasonable mix (70% F vs. 30% M).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Commonly held views hold that batched email is uniformly preferable to instantaneous servicing of emails.

    “This is in contradistinction to commonly held views that batched email is uniformly preferable to instantaneous servicing of emails14.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [14] Trafton, J. G. & Monk, C. A. Task interruptions. Reviews of Human Factors and Ergonomics 3, 111–126 (2007). source

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

    Study design and conductnone given

    Stress responses are recorded through five different physiological sensing channels, all acquired unobtrusively via imaging or wearable devices.

    “These stress responses are recorded through five different physiological sensing channels - all acquired unobtrusively via imaging or wearable devices.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The BioHarness can reliably measure breathing rate in the range [4–40] BPM and heart rate in the range [40–140] BPM.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The Perceived Stress Scale is a trait psychometric that predicts health-related outcomes associated with appraised stress.

    “This is a trait psychometric that predicts health-related outcomes associated with appraised stress21.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [21] Cohen, S. Perceived stress in a probability sample of the United States. In Spacapan, S. & Oskamp, S. (eds) The Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology. The Social Psychology of Health, 31–67 (Sage Publications, Inc, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1988).

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationown data

    PP trends fully conform to expectations, suggesting a high quality physiological channel.

    “the PP trends fully conform to expectations, suggesting a high quality physiological channel.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Heart rate performs poorly in mild office stressors of a cognitive nature (e.g., report writing), where breathing rate excels.

    “By contrast, heart rate performs poorly in mild office stressors of a cognitive nature (e.g., report writing), where thankfully breathing rate excels.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

    Study design and conductnone given

    The resting baseline session brings participants' arousal close to their tonic levels, so it can be used as a normalizing anchor for physiological measures during treatments.

    “The purpose of this session is to bring participants’ arousal close to their tonic levels, so it could be used as a normalizing anchor for the physiological measures taken during the treatments.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The tonic level of arousal differs significantly among people, reflected in physiological readings.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

    Interpretationreasoning

    The dataset is a rich resource for the scientific community to perform not only hypothesis-driven but also exploratory research.

    “Hence, it is a rich resource for the scientific community to perform not only hypothesis-driven but also exploratory research.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The e-rater scoring engine of the Educational Testing Service provides writing quality measures.

    “writing quality measures by the e-rater scoring engine of the Educational Testing Service (ETS)23”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [23] Burstein, J., Tetreault, J. & Madnani, N. The E-rater automated essay scoring system. In Shermis, M. D. & Burstein, J. (eds) Handbook of Automated Essay Evaluation, chap. 4, 77–89 (Routledge, New York, NY, 2013). source

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

    Study design and conductnone given

    The experiments were conducted by personnel trained the same, using identical systems and layouts across the three office rooms.

    “The experiments in these offices were conducted by personnel trained the same, using identical systems and layouts”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Interpretationreasoning

    Setting cutoff at 15.5 left a small amount of noise in heart rate data.

    “Unavoidably, setting the cutoff threshold at 15.5 (instead of 10) in the probability distribution function (PDF) left a small amount of noise in the heart rate data (Fig. 2b2), which is hard to remove without introducing other errors.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Interpretationown data

    After quality control, the stressful effect of presentation came into sharper focus, as mean Chest HR moved further away from means of other treatments.

    “At the same time, the stressful effect of presentation came into sharper focus, as its mean Chest HR moved further away from the means of the other treatments (right vs. left Chest HR panel).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The Big Five Inventory is a trait psychometric related to the participant's key personality factors.

    “Big Five Inventory (BFI) - A trait psychometric related to the participant’s key personality factors19.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [19] McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. Jr. A five-factor theory of personality. In John, O. P., Robins, R. W. & Pervin, L. A. (eds) Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research, chap. 5, 159–181 (The Guilford Press, New York, NY, 2008).

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    The experiment affords study of email use patterns that interact with ubiquitous office stressors, and how these interactions are modulated by individual characteristics.

    “They afford the study of email use patterns that interact with ubiquitous office stressors, and how these interactions are modulated by individual characteristics.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductreasoning

    If participants do not start their reply within the transitional time allotted, the interface shifts into the email page to ensure consistency across participants of the same email group.

    “If participants do not start their reply within the transitional time allotted, the interface shifts into the email page in order to ensure consistency across participants of the same email group (Batch or Continual).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Study design and conductown data

    The experiment's working set consisted of n = 63 knowledge workers whose raw data were nearly complete.

    “n = 63 knowledge workers who volunteered for this experiment”
    • Also stated in: § Participants · plain
      “Raw data for n = 63 participants were nearly complete, constituting our working set”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationown data

    The two heart rate channels capture well the high stress effect of presentation, but give unclear picture regarding differences between writing treatments and resting baseline.

    “the two heart rate channels capture well the high stress effect of the presentation, but give an unclear picture regarding differences between the writing treatments and the resting baseline.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Public speaking is an example of a Trier Social Stress, a stimulus of stronger intensity than the milder report stressors designed in this experiment.

    “Public speaking is an example of a Trier Social Stress16 - a stimulus of stronger intensity with respect to the milder report stressors designed in this experiment.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [16] Kudielka, B. M., Hellhammer, D. H. & Kirschbaum, C. Ten years of research with the Trier Social Stress Test-revisited. In Harmon-Jones, E. & Winkielman, P. (eds) Social Neuroscience: Integrating Biological and Psychological Explanations of Social Behavior, chap. 4, 56–83 (The Guilford Press, New York, NY, 2007). source

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    The presentation session acts as an upper bound of stress for all groups, facilitating additional validation of the measurement methods.

    “Hence, in addition to serving as an anticipatory stressor for the BH and CH groups, the presentation session also acts as an upper bound of stress for all groups, facilitating additional validation of our measurement methods.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationown data

    Breathing rate channel captures well the stress effect of writing treatments vs resting baseline, but gives non-sensical result for presentation.

    “The breathing rate channel captures well the stress effect of the writing treatments with respect to the resting baseline, but gives a non-sensical result for the presentation.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductcitation

    The data are freely available on the Open Science Framework (OSF).

    “The data are freely available on the Open Science Framework (OSF)18.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [18] Zaman, S. et al. Office Tasks 2019- A Multimodal Dataset. Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/zd2tn (2019). source

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Study design and conductown data

    Participants were randomly assigned into four groups in a 2 × 2 factorial design.

    “randomly assigned into four groups”
    • Also stated in: § Experimental design · plain
      “participants are randomly assigned to four groups in a 2 × 2 factorial design”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire is a trait psychometric related to the participant's ability to regulate emotions.

    “Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) - A trait psychometric related to the participant’s ability to regulate emotions20.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [20] Gross, J. J. & John, O. P. Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85, 348–362 (2003). source

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductnone given

    Informed consent was obtained from each participant before conducting the experiments.

    “obtaining informed consent from each participant before conducting the experiments”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Study design and conductnone given

    The experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Boards of Texas A&M University, the University of Houston, and the University of California, Irvine.

    “The experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) of the Texas A&M University (protocol # IRB2017-0271D), the University of Houston (protocol # STUDY00000343), and the University of California, Irvine (protocol # IRB2017-3637).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Because email treatments were designed in the midst of other representative office tasks, the study offers opportunities to investigate behaviors across a broader spectrum of information work activities.

    “Moreover, because the email treatments were designed in the midst of other representative office tasks to provide context, this study offers opportunities to investigate behaviors across a broader spectrum of information work activities.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Study design and conductnone given

    The dataset features a comprehensive array of measurement channels and ancillary media.

    “Importantly, the dataset features a comprehensive array of measurement channels and ancillary media.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Interpretationcitation

    The thermal imaging sequences can be used for extraction of additional physiological indicators, such as breathing signals, or re-extraction of perinasal perspiration signals.

    “These sequences can be used for extraction of additional physiological indicators, such as breathing signals25, the re-extraction of perinasal perspiration signals, or other computer vision research.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [25] Fei, J. & Pavlidis, I. Thermistor at a distance: unobtrusive measurement of breathing. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 57, 988–998 (2010). source

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationcitation

    Overall, problems were of small to moderate scale and consistent with wearability limitations for BioHarness and E4.

    “Overall, problems were of small to moderate scale and consistent with wearability limitations for BioHarness and E427.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [27] Taamneh, S. et al. A multimodal dataset for various forms of distracted driving. Scientific Data 4, 170110 (2017). source

      Checked before — its earlier verdict is held back until a new check runs.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Respiration tracks metabolic rate and breathing rate tracks respiration.

    “Respiration tracks metabolic rate29 and in turn breathing rate tracks respiration.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [29] Bursztein, S. et al. Determination of energy metabolism from respiratory functions alone. Journal of Applied Physiology 42, 117–119 (1977). source

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductnone given

    Participants were given two explicit data use and release options, each requiring a separate signature.

    “the participants were given two explicit data use & release options, for which a separate signature was required”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

    Study design and conductnone given

    The single task session allows participants to warm up for the subsequent writing session and provides a baseline of writing skills for each participant.

    “This session allows participants to warm up for the subsequent writing session, and provides a baseline of writing skills for each participant.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductnone given

    The order of the emails was randomized.

    “The order of the emails is randomized.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Absolute physiological measurements during treatments are not reliable stress indicators for participants; what matters is how much their arousal has increased with respect to their characteristic tonic level.

    “Hence, absolute physiological measurements during treatments are not reliable stress indicators for participants; what matters is how much their arousal has increased with respect to their characteristic tonic level.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The tonic level of arousal differs significantly among people, reflected in physiological readings.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Study design and conductreasoning

    The presentation session used a pre-recorded video with actors to maintain realism and stimulus consistency across participants.

    “In fact, this is a pre-recorded video with actors that gives the impression of a live session. As a result, both realism and stimulus consistency are maintained across the participant sample.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Study design and conductnone given

    To ensure the soundness of the data, the authors carried out quality control and experimental validation of study variables.

    “To ensure the soundness of the data, we carried out the following operations: (1) Quality control of study variables. (2) Experimental validation of study variables.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Study design and conductreasoning

    The virtual tissue tracker keeps track of the region of interest despite small head motions, ensuring that the thermophysiological signal extractor operates on consistent and valid data over the clip's timeline.

    “The algorithm includes a virtual tissue tracker that keeps track of the region of interest, despite participants’ small head motions. This ensures that the thermophysiological signal extractor operates on consistent and valid sets of data over the clip’s timeline.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationown data

    Chest heart rate appears to be a valid stress tracker in presentation tasks, while breathing rate appears to be a valid stress tracker for most other office tasks, except those involving speech delivery.

    “while the chest heart rate channel appears to be a valid stress tracker in presentation tasks, the breathing rate channel appears to be a valid stress tracker for most other office tasks, except those involving speech delivery.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationcitation

    This outcome is consistent with other reports in the literature, leaving perinasal perspiration as the only viable cholinergic channel in the present experiment.

    “This outcome is consistent with other reports in the literature26, leaving perinasal perspiration as the only viable cholinergic channel in the present experiment.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [26] Tsiamyrtzis, P., Dcosta, M., Shastri, D., Prasad, E. & Pavlidis, I. Delineating the operational envelope of mobile and conventional eda sensing on key body locations. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 5665–5674 (ACM, 2016). source

      Checked before — its earlier verdict is held back until a new check runs.

76 of 76

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The tonic level of arousal differs significantly among people, reflected in physiological readings.

    “The tonic level of arousal differs significantly among people, something that is reflected in the physiological readings.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Priming with Stroop reinforces arousal for the Anticipatory High Stressor group, while relaxing video subdues arousal for the Low Anticipatory Stressor group.

    “This session occurs directly before the main writing session in order to reinforce arousal for the Anticipatory High Stressor group, while subduing arousal for the Low Anticipatory Stressor group.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Email's main effects and interactions with other office tasks, taking into account personality profiles, are under-explored.

    “Email’s main effects and interactions with other office tasks, taking into account personality profiles, are under-explored.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Email remains a key source of interruptions in office work.

    “Email, however, remains a key source of interruptions in office work.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Most other studies treat email use in isolation and ignore profiles of office workers.

    “Most other studies treat email use in isolation and ignore profiles of office workers.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The BioHarness can reliably measure breathing rate in the range [4–40] BPM and heart rate in the range [40–140] BPM.

    “It can reliably measure breathing rate in the range [4–40] BPM, while heart rate in the range [40–140] BPM.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Mean heart rate measurements on chest and wrist should not be significantly different within participant and treatment (people have only one heart).

    “Mean heart rate measurements on the chest and wrist should not be significantly different within participant and treatment - after all, people have only one heart!”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The Zephyr BioHarness 3.0 cannot measure reliably breathing rates outside [4, 40] bpm.

    “The Zephyr BioHarness 3.0 device cannot measure reliably breathing rates outside this range.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Extreme breathing rates are unlikely for sitting subjects under mild to moderate stress.

    “Moreover, extreme breathing rates are unlikely for sitting subjects that are under mild to moderate stress.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The Zephyr BioHarness 3.0 cannot measure reliably heart rates outside [40, 140] bpm.

    “The Zephyr BioHarness 3.0 device cannot measure reliably heart rates outside this range.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Extreme heart rates are unlikely for sitting subjects under mild to moderate stress.

    “Moreover, extreme heart rates are unlikely for sitting subjects that are under mild to moderate stress.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Values outside [0.01, 100] μS violate the E4’s EDA sensor specification.

    “Values outside this range violate the E4’s EDA sensor specification, suggesting weak electrodermal signal26 or other abnormality.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Cognitive tasks at the office are bereft of physical activity, and metabolic rate of office workers during report writing is defined by energy consumption in the brain.

    “Cognitive tasks at the office are bereft of physical activity, and thus metabolic rate of office workers during report writing is defined by energy consumption in the brain.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The BioHarness is sensitive to electrode detachment, which is likely in the thoracic area when participants crouch, leading to catastrophic failures.

    “The BioHarness performs heart rate measurements based on electrophysiological sensing and is sensitive to electrode detachment, which is likely in the thoracic area when participants crouch; it leads to catastrophic failures”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    E4 is sensitive to probe contact force; overtight or loose wristbands lead to unreliable measurements.

    “E4 performs heart rate measurements based on plethysmography and is sensitive to probe contact force; overtight or loose wristbands lead to unreliable measurements.”
15 of 15

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • Chest heart-rate values above the upper bound are reported, then denied

    Minor

    The paper reports that 0.01% of chest heart-rate measurements exceeded 140 bpm, but later says upper-bound violations occurred only in wrist heart-rate signals.

1 of 1

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. Jr. A five-factor theory of personality. In John, O. P., Robins, R. W. & Pervin, L. A. (eds) Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research, chap. 5, 159–181 (The Guilford Press, New York, NY, 2008).

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Zaman, S., Wesley, A., Silva, D. R. D. C., Buddharaju, P., Akbar, F., Gao, G., Mark, G., Gutierrez-Osuna, R., & Pavlidis, I.
Affiliations
  • University of Houston (US)
  • Texas A&M University (US)
  • University of California, Irvine (US)
  • University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Corresponding author
Pavlidis, Ioannis
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Data
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2019-11-08
Volume
6
Issue
1
Pages
264-264
ISSN
2052-4463 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41597-019-0249-5
PMC
PMC6841929
OpenAlex
W2985045049
Cited by
17
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3
Type
data paper
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Data (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • American University of Bahrain (cc-by)
Funders
National Science Foundation (1704682, 1704636, 1704889)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Personal Information Management and User Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Technostress in Professional Settings
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Human-Automation Interaction and Safety
Keywords
occupational stress, productivity, knowledge workers, office work, multitasking, physiological stress indicators, keystroke dynamics
MeSH terms
Occupational Stress, Work Engagement, Humans, Electronic Mail

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Claims read by deepseek-v4.1-flash under definition version 3 (extract-v3) on 2026-11-06.

Classified by jev-1.13-20260917 (gold-guideline-v0.2) on 2026-11-06.

Cited sources are checked by gpt-6-sol.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

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