Dedicated tool to assess the impact of a rhetorical task on human body temperature

- Stress induces changes in temperature of the human torso.
- Temperature response of the torso to a stress factor is not clear.
- 72% of cases respond with a temperature increase, 21% with a decrease, and for 7% no change is observed.
- Examination-related stress can raise the temperature of the torso by 0.5 °C.

IntroductionFunctional infrared thermal imaging is a method widely used in medicine, including analysis of the mechanisms related to the effect of emotions on physiological processes. The article shows how the body temperature may change during stress associated with performing a rhetorical task and proposes new parameters useful for dynamic thermal imaging measurementsMaterials and methods29 healthy male subjects were examined. They were given a rhetorical task that induced stress. Analysis and processing of collected body temperature data in a spatial resolution of 256 × 512 pixels and a temperature resolution of 0.1 °C enabled to show the dynamics of temperature changes. This analysis was preceded by dedicated image analysis and processing methodsResultsThe presented dedicated algorithm for image analysis and processing allows for fully automated, reproducible and quantitative assessment of temperature changes and time constants in a sequence of thermal images of the patient. When performing the rhetorical task, the temperature rose by 0.47 ± 0.19 °C in 72.41% of the subjects, including 20.69% in whom the temperature decreased by 0.49 ± 0.14 °C after 237 ± 141 s. For 20.69% of the subjects only a drop in temperature was registered. For the remaining 6.89% of the cases, no temperature changes were registeredConclusionsThe performance of the rhetorical task by the subjects causes body temperature changes. The ambiguous temperature response to the given stress factor indicates the complex mechanisms responsible for regulating stressful situations. Stress associated with the examination itself induces body temperature changes. These changes should always be taken into account in the analysis of infrared data.