Blinking on a quiz show offers clues to human response under stress

Blinking on a quiz show offers clues to human response under stress Footage fromthe British TV show " Mastermind " gave University of Arizona psychologists a chance to examine human physiology under conditions of stress that would be impossible to reproduce in the lab. Niranjana Rajalakshmi Today University CommunicationsTVshow.jpgHealthScience and TechnologyCollege of ScienceExpertsResearch Media contact(s)Niranjana Rajalakshmi Science Writer, University Communicationsniranjanar@arizona.edu917-415-3497 Researcher contact(s)Robert Wilson Department of Psychologybob@email.arizona.eduQuiz shows, where contestants answer rapid-fire questions in a high-stress, high-stakes environment, are an integral part of TV programming – and now they are demonstrating that they have research value.By analyzing contestants ' behavior and patterns of blinking on the British TV show " Mastermind, " cognitive scientists at the University of Arizona have studied human physiology under conditions of stress that would be impossible to reproduce in the lab.The results werepublished today in the journal Psychophysiology.Wilson - Sandbox.jpg Robert Wilson" This is a dream I ' ve had for a long time – to try to get physiological information out of video signals, " saidRobert Wilson, senior author on the paper, who is an associate professor in cognition and neural systems at the UArizonaDepartment of Psychology, in theCollege of Science.On " Mastermind, " contestants sit in a big leather...
Source: The University of Arizona: Health - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Source Type: research