The present invention relates to a device and a method for extracting physiological information from remotely detected electromagnetic radiation emitted or reflected by a subject (10). A data stream (30) derivable from electromagnetic radiation (20) emitted or reflected by a subject (10) is received. The data stream (30) comprises a sequence (76, 152) of signal samples (78a, 78b, 78c) including physiological information and indicative of disturbing motion. The signal samples (78a, 78b, 78c) represent at least one region of interest (68) exhibiting an at least partially periodic indicative pattern attributable to at least one physiological parameter (56), and a non-indicative motion region (110). The sequence (76, 152) of signal samples (78a, 78b, 78c) is processed, comprising deriving a sequence (106, 158) of derivative motion compensated samples (108a, 108b, 108c) at least partially compensated for undesired overall motion； detecting an evaluation parameter representative of motion compensation accuracy； and deriving at least one characteristic signal (128, 172, 176) at least partially indicative of the at least partially periodic indicative pattern from the sequence (106, 158) of motion compensated samples (108a, 108b, 108c), wherein deriving the characteristic signal (128, 172, 176) is performed depending on the detected evaluation parameter.
