Technology Development Initiative – Paper of the Month – February 2024

Investigation of daily patterns for smartphone keystroke dynamics based on loneliness and social isolation

Image Copyright: Biomedical Engineering Letters

Published in Biomedical Engineering Letters (2023)

Authors

Seokbeen Lim, Chaeyeon Kim, Baek Hwan Cho, Soo-Hee Choi, Hyeongrae Lee & Dong Pyo Jang

Paper presented by Dr. TingTing Liu and selected by the NIDA TDI Paper of the Month Committee

Publication Brief Description

The practice of gathering data passively via smartphones, without requiring users to actively participate, has become increasingly popular for acquiring unbiased insights into users’ mental health and behavior. Unlike relying on people’s self-reported information, using this smartphone-based mobile passive data, including mobile keystroke dynamics, offers a non-invasive way to understand how individuals behave in real-world situations. This data can allow researchers to pick up on subtle changes and nuances over time. Lim et al.’s research represents an innovative approach to using this type of data whereby they use daily mobile keystroke dynamics to explore the association between loneliness levels and typing patterns in healthy individuals. They showed diurnal patterns of smartphone typing behavior differed by loneliness levels which suggested that mobile keystroke dynamics could serve as a valuable tool for loneliness research. In conclusion, the keystroke dynamic enables unobtrusive data collection, offering digital biomarkers and objective insights into behavioral patterns associated with mental health conditions and substance use, potentially facilitating early detection and intervention therapies.

@article{Lim:2023aa,

title = {Investigation of daily patterns for smartphone keystroke dynamics based on loneliness and social isolation},

author = {Seokbeen Lim and Chaeyeon Kim and Baek Hwan Cho and Soo-Hee Choi and Hyeongrae Lee and Dong Pyo Jang},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-023-00337-0},

doi = {10.1007/s13534-023-00337-0},

isbn = {2093-985X},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-11-22},

journal = {Biomedical Engineering Letters},

abstract = {This study examined the relationship between loneliness levels and daily patterns of mobile keystroke dynamics in healthy individuals. Sixty-six young healthy Koreans participated in the experiment. Over five weeks, the participants used a custom Android keyboard. We divided the participants into four groups based on their level of loneliness (no loneliness, moderate loneliness, severe loneliness, and very severe loneliness). The very severe loneliness group demonstrated significantly higher typing counts during sleep time than the other three groups (one-way ANOVA},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}