Constanza M. Vidal Bustamante*, Karolina Alama-Maruta, Carmen Ng, and Daniel D.L. Coppersmith
Edited by Christopher Miller and Grant A. Knappe
Article | Aug. 29 2022
*Email: cvidal@g.harvard.edu
DOI: 10.38105/spr.qy2iibrk72
Highlights
- Biometric data are increasingly used to attempt to infer individuals’ momentary emotional and cognitive states, like stress and fatigue, as well as intentions, preferences, and health status
- Use cases range from personal wellness tracking and clinical monitoring in research settings to the surveillance of students and workers
- Many commercialized uses of biometrics for mental inference have limited scientific support and pose important ethical concerns related to individuals’ privacy and self-determination
- Rigorous scientific research, more precise and proactive legal protections, and sustained global cooperation will be important to access the benefits of biometric techniques in fields like healthcare while mitigating individual and societal harms
Article Summary
Open Access

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Constanza M. Vidal Bustamante
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Karolina Alama-Maruta
University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
Carmen Ng
Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Daniel D.L. Coppersmith
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA