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When I was asked to give an impromptu short talk and then calculate in reverse in steps of 17 – while facing a group of unfamiliar people – the acute stress was visible in my features.

This occurred since researchers were documenting this rather frightening situation for a scientific study that is studying stress using infrared imaging.

Stress alters the blood flow in the face, and scientists have discovered that the thermal decrease of a subject's face can be used as a gauge of anxiety and to monitor recovery.

Heat mapping, based on researcher findings conducting the research could be a "game changer" in stress research.

The Scientific Tension Assessment

The research anxiety evaluation that I participated in is meticulously designed and intentionally created to be an unpleasant surprise. I came to the university with minimal awareness what I was in for.

Initially, I was told to settle, calm down and hear white noise through a pair of earphones.

Up to this point, very peaceful.

Then, the researcher who was running the test brought in a group of unfamiliar people into the room. They collectively gazed at me without speaking as the investigator stated that I now had a brief period to prepare a brief presentation about my "ideal career".

When noticing the heat rise around my throat, the researchers recorded my skin tone shifting through their heat-sensing equipment. My nasal area rapidly cooled in temperature – turning blue on the heat map – as I considered how to manage this spontaneous talk.

Scientific Results

The researchers have performed this same stress test on multiple participants. In every case, they noticed the facial region decrease in warmth by several degrees.

My nasal area cooled in heat by two degrees, as my physiological mechanism pushed blood flow away from my nose and to my sensory systems – a physiological adaptation to help me to observe and hear for threats.

The majority of subjects, like me, bounced back rapidly; their facial temperatures rose to normal readings within a few minutes.

Principal investigator stated that being a media professional has probably made me "quite habituated to being placed in tense situations".

"You are used to the filming device and conversing with unknown individuals, so you're probably quite resilient to public speaking anxieties," she explained.

"However, even individuals such as yourself, trained to be tense circumstances, shows a biological blood flow shift, so which implies this 'nose temperature drop' is a reliable indicator of a changing stress state."

Stress Management Applications

Tension is inevitable. But this finding, the scientists say, could be used to assist in controlling negative degrees of anxiety.

"The duration it takes a person to return to normal from this cooling effect could be an reliable gauge of how well somebody regulates their anxiety," noted the lead researcher.

"When they return exceptionally gradually, could this indicate a warning sign of anxiety or depression? Is this an aspect that we can do anything about?"

Because this technique is non-invasive and records biological reactions, it could also be useful to monitor stress in infants or in people who can't communicate.

The Calculation Anxiety Assessment

The second task in my stress assessment was, in my view, more challenging than the initial one. I was instructed to subtract sequentially decreasing from 2023 in increments of seventeen. One of the observers of unresponsive individuals interrupted me each instance I committed an error and told me to start again.

I acknowledge, I am inexperienced in calculating mentally.

During the embarrassing length of time attempting to compel my mind to execute arithmetic operations, all I could think was that I wanted to flee the growing uncomfortable space.

During the research, merely one of the multiple participants for the anxiety assessment did truly seek to exit. The rest, comparable to my experience, completed their tasks – likely experiencing varying degrees of discomfort – and were rewarded with a further peaceful interval of ambient sound through earphones at the end.

Non-Human Applications

Perhaps one of the most unexpected elements of the method is that, because thermal cameras record biological tension reactions that is inherent within various monkey types, it can also be used in other species.

The scientists are presently creating its implementation within sanctuaries for great apes, comprising various ape species. They seek to establish how to decrease anxiety and improve the wellbeing of animals that may have been saved from distressing situations.

The team has already found that presenting mature chimps recorded material of young primates has a relaxing impact. When the investigators placed a display monitor near the rehabilitated primates' habitat, they observed the nasal areas of creatures that observed the material increase in temperature.

So, in terms of stress, watching baby animals engaging in activities is the inverse of a unexpected employment assessment or an spontaneous calculation test.

Future Applications

Employing infrared imaging in primate refuges could demonstrate itself as valuable in helping rescued animals to become comfortable to a different community and strange surroundings.

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