Choice reaching, e.g., reaching a targeted object by hand,
involves a dynamic online integration of perception, action and
cognition, where neural activities of prefrontal cortical regions
are concurrently coordinated with sensori-motor subsystems.
On the basis of this theoretical development, the authors
investigate the extent to which cursor movements in a simple
choice-reaching task reveal people’s emotions, such as anxiety.
The results show that there is a strong correlation between
cursor trajectory patterns and self-reported anxiety in male
participants. Because computer cursors are ubiquitous, our
trajectory analysis can be augmented to existing affective
computing technologies.