Practical Physiological Computing

Lecturer:

Prof. Dr. Sven Mayer

Tutorials:

Francesco Chiossi

Teodora Mitrevska

Oliver Hein

Kathrin Schnizer

Hours per week:

4

ECTS:

6

Language:

Englisch

Module:

Vertiefende Themen: P 1, P 2, WP 9, WP 12, WP 15, WP 26, WP 27 (MA INF PStO 2022); P 1, P 3, P 5, WP 3, WP 9 (MA MI PStO 2022); P 6, P 9, WP 3, WP 6 (MA MCI PStO 2022); WP 48, WP 51, WP 52 (BA INF PStO 2022); WP 26, WP 29, WP 30 (BA MI PStO 2022); WP 4 (BA MI-NF PStO 2022)

Syllabus

In this practical. we will explore the role of physiological sensing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), where biometric data is used to create more adaptive, responsive, and user-centered technologies. Students will learn how to measure and interpret key physiological signals, gaining practical experience with real-world sensing devices. Traditional HCI relies on explicit user inputs like mouse clicks and keystrokes. However, physiological sensing enables a deeper understanding of user states—such as stress, engagement, and cognitive load—leading to more intuitive and adaptive systems. They are often applied in the context of affective computing, BCIs, stress and well-being, gaming and VR etc. To get a good overview, we will explore most commonly used physiological signals in HCI, such as:

• Heart Rate Monitoring: Basic physiological sensing and its role in user state detection.
• Eye Tracking: Analyzing gaze behavior for interaction design, usability testing, and attention tracking.
• Electrodermal Activity (EDA): Measuring stress and arousal to evaluate user engagement.
• Electroencephalography (EEG): Brain activity measurement for cognitive workload analysis and neuroadaptive interfaces.

Schedule

Wednesdays, 16:00 - 18:00 Uhr, c.t. in Frauenlobstr. 7A, Room 357

All dates are mandatory attendance.

Grading

The grade is based on a presentation and a written paper.

• The presentation must last 10-20 minutes.
• The paper must contain 20,000 - 30,000 characters using the LaTex template

Registration

Interested students can apply for this practical course via the central registration process. Details on this will be published via institute's communication channels. Signing up for this course directly is not possible.