martedì 17 aprile 2012

Cognitive Biometrics. There still is something not on wikipedia!

Today I received a newsletter from a publisher company about newly published academic journals.
One of them captured my attention and curiosity, it was about the so-called "Cognitive Biometrics". I run on google searching for a wikipedia page on that. With great surprise I did not find anything about it.
In this world, probably to find or not to find something on wikipedia is a good index about how new is a topic. Cognitive biometrics is definitely new.
As Dr. Revett, editor of the International Journal of Cognitive Biometrics, wrote "Cognitive biometrics is a novel approach to user authentication and/or identification that utilises the response(s) of nervous tissue."
Cognitive biometrics merges human perception to computer database in a brain-machine interface. It is based on specific responses of the brain to stimuli which could be used to trigger a computer database search. 
The stimulus, according to Dr. Revett, "could be the presentation of a familiar photograph, a song, or a Rorschach ink blot, either individually or in various combinations. It is designed to induce a specific and reproducible change(s) in the (or a set of) state(s) of the individual."
The methods used to record the changes currently include the electroencephalogram (EEG), the electrocardiogram (ECG), the electrodermal response (EDR), blood pulse volume (BVP), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR), electromyogram (EMG), eye trackers (pupilometry), hemoencephalography (HEG), and related technologies.
According to Dr. Revett "the motivation for this approach is to provide a more intuitive and arguably a more robust and user-friendly authentication protocol that is suitable for both static and continuous authentication requirements."
One should note that cognitive biometrics is completely distinct from behavioral biometrics. Behavioral biometrics, such as keystroke dynamics, signature and gait rely on the precise reproduction of motoric activities, which are only peripherally related to cognitive state. 
Cognitive biometrics uses individual's response (typically non motoric) to a stimulus.
It is the response of the person to the applied stimulus that forms the basic for the authentication. How a person responds to a stimulus is very complex. Basically there is a genetic basis, modulated by our experiential history which can significantly shape our behavior.

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