By Chris Skeldon 
pub
The association can be explained by what is known as the motor neuron noise theory.
The way you move your mouse or type on a computer keyboard while working indicates your stress level, according to a study by the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Zurich.
The research, published in the Journal of Biomedical Informatics, observed 90 people in a work environment created in a lab and developed a model through algorithms.
Mara Nägelin, a mathematician at ETH, explained that people under stress move the mouse cursor more often, with less precision, and travel longer distances on the screen.
On the other hand, relaxed people use their computer mouse in shorter, more direct ways to get to their destination on the screen, and take longer to do so.
As for the use of the keyboard, people who are stressed in ergonomics make more mistakes while typing, using “stumbles” with very short pauses, in contrast to those who are comfortable, who write with fewer but longer pauses.
The association between stress, keyboard typing, and mouse behavior can be explained by what is known as the motor neuron noise theory.
Increased levels of stress negatively affect our brain’s ability to process information. “It also affects our motor skills,” explained study co-author Yasmin Kerr.
The team developed a stress model in which 90 people perform real-world desk tasks in the lab, such as planning appointments or recording and analyzing data.
The researchers recorded the participants’ mouse and keyboard behavior, as well as their heart rates, and repeatedly asked them how stressed they felt.
Some participants were able to work undisturbed, but others also had to participate in a job interview, and among those, some were repeatedly interrupted by “chat” messages.
“We were surprised that typing and mouse behavior were better predictors of individuals’ feelings of stress than heart rate,” Naglen said.
The heart rates of the participants in the two groups did not differ as much as in previous studies, and one of the reasons could be that the control group was not vacant, and continued to work but without distraction, which is more realistic for the work environment.
These findings, if applied properly, could be used in the future to prevent premature rises in workplace stress, the study authors emphasized.
The team continues to test the model they developed, but now in a real working environment, where volunteer participants let their mouse and keyboard behavior and heart data be recorded with an app that periodically asks them about their personal stress levels.