The Power of Movement: How Everyday Devices Can Reveal Decision-Making Patterns

As you interact with your smartphone throughout the day, whether checking emails or shopping online, you are unknowingly providing valuable data about your decision-making process. New research from the University of Alberta suggests that these movements may be key to understanding human behavior.

The concept of "moving is thinking" has been central to Craig Chapman's research at the Actions in Complex Environments Laboratory (ACELab) for over a decade. According to Chapman, an associate professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, observing how people move can offer significant insights into what’s happening inside their minds. "By carefully measuring what's going on outside someone's head, we can learn a lot about their decision-making processes," he explains.

In a study recently published in Computers in Human Behavior, Chapman and his team at the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute demonstrated that common devices like smartphones and tablets can capture movement data just as accurately as specialized lab equipment, such as mouse-tracking tests. This breakthrough could transform research by enabling the collection of vast amounts of data remotely, without requiring participants to come to a lab.

“We went into the real world, collecting data from people on their own devices in their own homes,” Chapman says.

Traditional decision-making research often focuses on the outcome of choices, like what was clicked, without considering the physical movements involved. While mouse-tracking has been used to track movements, Chapman's approach prioritizes the physical actions behind decisions.

"We focus on the 'how'—how did you choose? How did your body move to make that decision?" Chapman explains. Our decisions typically require some form of physical movement, whether reaching for an item or walking across a room. The speed and direction of these movements provide valuable insight into the decision-making process.

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Smartphones and tablets are ideal for this type of research, as the way we move our fingers on touchscreens more closely resembles real-world movements than using a mouse. However, Chapman notes that any type of tracking can provide useful information about decision-making.

In the study, participants performed three tasks: comparing numbers, verifying sentence accuracy, and selecting a preferred photo. The researchers measured factors like reaction time, movement time, and the path taken on the screen. They found that touch devices closely mirrored natural reaching behaviors.

Chapman believes that touch devices are particularly effective for tracking movement signatures of decision-making, as the way we interact with them mirrors real-world actions. "We think the brain treats these swiping movements as actual reaching movements, which are influenced by factors that affect real-world reaching," he explains.

The ability to track movement through everyday devices has broad potential applications. In fields like corporate hiring, tracking movement signatures could enhance the accuracy of assessments. In healthcare, providers could use this data to remotely monitor rehabilitation progress. Additionally, sports teams could leverage movement insights to optimize performance and assess readiness to return to play.

Chapman sees immense potential for this research. "I want other researchers to realize that they can collect data from thousands of participants in a single day. The scalability of this approach is enormous," he says.