Communications of the ACM
Fear Not the Deadlines, Research Finds
The University of Houston's Ioannis Pavlidis said the study "not only brings fresh insights into researchers’ behaviors, but also challenges some prevailing views about deadlines.”
Credit: Getty
Analysis by researchers at the University of Houston, Texas A&M University, and Italy's Polytechnic of Milano suggests the presence or absence of deadlines does not affect people's stress levels.
The researchers camera-monitored the facial physiology, expressions, and movements of scientists working at an office for the two days leading to a critical deadline, and over two other days with no looming deadline.
They measured participants' imaged perinasal perspiration levels to quantify sympathetic activation, which often leads to stress.
Data models trained on hundreds of hours of recordings found researchers endure high sympathetic activation while working, which showed little change with or without deadlines.
The researchers found extensive smartphone use and prolific reading/writing were the only factors that worsened sympathetic activation.
From University of Houston News
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