Show Me Your Moves: Analyzing Body Signals to Predict Creativity of Knowledge Workers

Abstract

We propose a novel approach to measuring the collaboration of knowledge workers, using body sensing smartwatches to capture psychometric data about individuals in a team. In a proof of concept study, we collected 2653 samples of body signals by equipping 15 people with our body sensing smartwatch over the course of 3 days during a design workshop. Additionally, we polled the users about their self-perceived team creativity at the end of each day. By employing multiple linear regression models, we found that body signals tracked by the smartwatch correlate significantly with the perceived team creativity reported by the individuals. Comparing those correlations with known predictors of creativity such as mood states and personality traits, we found that movement-related body signals predict creativity on the same accuracy level as mood states and personality traits do.