Goosebump Detector

Goosebumps (also known as piloerection) occur when the skin cells around hairs shrink, making the hairs stand on end. In animals, they develop when the animal feels fear or anger, and the effect makes them look larger or stronger as the hairs stand up. Humans also develop them when they feel a sudden surge of emotion, which makes goosebumps a good candidate for quantitative measurement of human emotional response.

Recently, a thin, flexible patch was developed that can detect goosebump responses by monitoring capacitance. The work is centered on calibrating the measurements based on predefined personal emotional profiles and emotion sensitivity, while exposing subjects to different types and levels of emotion stimulus. The technology could someday offer new insights into the research on individuals with conduct issues and explosive or underdeveloped emotional traits to help them gain better control of their emotional responses.