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After being requested to deliver an unprepared five-minute speech and then subtract sequentially in steps of 17 – while facing a group of unfamiliar people – the sudden tension was written on my face.

That is because psychologists were documenting this somewhat terrifying experience for a scientific study that is examining tension using thermal cameras.

Anxiety modifies the blood distribution in the facial area, and researchers have found that the thermal decrease of a subject's face can be used as a gauge of anxiety and to monitor recovery.

Heat mapping, as stated by the scientists behind the study could be a "transformative advancement" in anxiety studies.

The Research Anxiety Evaluation

The experimental stress test that I participated in is carefully controlled and deliberately designed to be an discomforting experience. I came to the research facility with little knowledge what I was about to experience.

To begin, I was asked to sit, calm down and experience background static through a audio headset.

So far, so calming.

Then, the researcher who was running the test introduced a panel of three strangers into the space. They each looked at me silently as the researcher informed that I now had 180 seconds to prepare a five minute speech about my "dream job".

As I felt the temperature increase around my collar area, the experts documented my face changing colour through their thermal camera. My nose quickly dropped in heat – showing colder on the heat map – as I considered how to navigate this unplanned presentation.

Study Outcomes

The scientists have conducted this equivalent anxiety evaluation on multiple participants. In every case, they saw their nose decrease in warmth by several degrees.

My facial temperature decreased in warmth by a couple of degrees, as my physiological mechanism shifted blood distribution from my face and to my sensory systems – a bodily response to help me to look and listen for danger.

Most participants, like me, bounced back rapidly; their nasal areas heated to normal readings within a brief period.

Principal investigator stated that being a journalist and presenter has probably made me "somewhat accustomed to being put in stressful positions".

"You're accustomed to the camera and speaking to strangers, so you're probably quite resilient to interpersonal pressures," the researcher noted.

"However, even individuals such as yourself, trained to be tense circumstances, exhibits a biological blood flow shift, so that suggests this 'facial cooling' is a robust marker of a changing stress state."

Stress Management Applications

Stress is part of life. But this discovery, the experts claim, could be used to aid in regulating harmful levels of stress.

"The period it takes an individual to bounce back from this temperature drop could be an objective measure of how effectively somebody regulates their tension," explained the head scientist.

"When they return unusually slowly, might this suggest a warning sign of anxiety or depression? Is this an aspect that we can address?"

Since this method is non-intrusive and measures a physical response, it could also be useful to track anxiety in babies or in those with communication challenges.

The Mathematical Stress Test

The second task in my stress assessment was, personally, even worse than the initial one. I was instructed to subtract in reverse starting from 2023 in steps of 17. Someone on the panel of three impassive strangers stopped me each instance I committed an error and asked me to start again.

I confess, I am poor with doing math in my head.

As I spent awkward duration attempting to compel my mind to execute arithmetic operations, the only thought was that I wished to leave the increasingly stuffy room.

Throughout the study, only one of the numerous subjects for the stress test did actually ask to depart. The others, like me, finished their assignments – probably enduring varying degrees of humiliation – and were compensated by an additional relaxation period of ambient sound through earphones at the end.

Animal Research Applications

Perhaps one of the most remarkable features of the technique is that, as heat-sensing technology record biological tension reactions that is natural to various monkey types, it can also be used in other species.

The researchers are presently creating its application in sanctuaries for great apes, including chimpanzees and gorillas. They want to work out how to reduce stress and enhance the welfare of animals that may have been rescued from traumatic circumstances.

Researchers have previously discovered that showing adult chimpanzees video footage of young primates has a relaxing impact. When the investigators placed a display monitor near the rescued chimps' enclosure, they saw the noses of creatures that observed the material increase in temperature.

So, in terms of stress, observing young creatures playing is the contrary to a unexpected employment assessment or an spontaneous calculation test.

Coming Implementations

Employing infrared imaging in primate refuges could turn out to be valuable in helping rehabilitated creatures to become comfortable to a new social group and strange surroundings.

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