Anuja Hariharan, Verena Dorner

Performance in a particular task, especially under stress, is possibly determined by the social context that one is placed in. By means of a serious game that induces emotional arousal/stress while playing, this study intends to explore whether there are performance differences in individual, cooperative and competitive modes of interaction, and why these performance differences exist. To this end, physiological data of participants (Skin conductance, heart rate, EEG), as well as data from self-reported questionnaires has been acquired, while playing a game in three modes, by means of a controlled lab experiment.

In this thesis, the student will be expected to perform statistical analysis of acquired experimental data, and test hypotheses laid out by means of suitable regression methods. The student stands to gain hands-on-experience in data analysis and will be guided through the task. Highly motivated students with good mathematical and statistical skills are encouraged to apply for this seminar topic.