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Using Smartphone Sensor Data to Assess Inhibitory Control in the Wild: Longitudinal Study
Vincent Ws Tseng1, Jean Dos Reis Costa2,3, Malte F Jung3
1Department of Information Science, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.
JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth
|December 4, 2020
Summary
This study identified digital markers from phone use that predict changes in inhibitory control, a key executive function. These findings enable continuous, unobtrusive assessment for well-being management.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Digital Health
Background:
- Inhibitory control is a crucial executive function impacting attention, performance, and well-being.
- Inhibitory control naturally fluctuates due to various modulating factors.
- Continuous and unobtrusive assessment of inhibitory control is needed to understand mediating factors and design supportive systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the feasibility of assessing inhibitory control through an unobtrusive and scalable approach.
- To identify digital markers from smartphone data that predict changes in individuals' inhibitory control.
Main Methods:
- Developed 'InhibiSense' app to passively collect phone behavior and sensor data.
- Collected ground truth inhibitory control data using stop-signal tasks (SSTs) and ecological momentary assessments (EMAs).
- Utilized generalized estimating equation (GEE) and gradient boosting models to identify predictive digital markers of stop-signal reaction time (SSRT).
Main Results:
- Identified several digital markers predictive of SSRT, including phone use patterns, call frequency, and ambient noise levels.
- Found specific phone usage metrics (e.g., burstiness, session duration) and environmental factors (e.g., noise) associated with inhibitory control.
- No significant correlation was found between objective and subjective measures of inhibitory control.
Conclusions:
- Successfully identified phone-based digital markers for continuous and unobtrusive assessment of inhibitory control.
- Results support the potential for in-the-wild monitoring of inhibitory control.
- Discussed potential applications for technological interventions to manage inhibitory control and enhance well-being.
