Key result
Viewing temperature-evoking videos is linked to cardiac output and peripheral resistance changes mimicking thermal environments.
Why the study?
Physiological thermoregulatory systems are controlled by sensory organs sensitive to thermal energy, but it is unclear if non-thermal visual stimuli can induce similar cardiovascular responses.
Does visual information without thermal energy induce thermoregulatory-like cardiovascular responses in healthy young men?
Does visual information without thermal energy induce thermoregulatory-like cardiovascular responses in healthy young men?
Effect estimate: r = 0.229
p-value: p=0.012
Visual stimuli evoking hot or cold impressions can induce thermoregulatory-like cardiovascular responses, such as changes in heart rate, cardiac output, and peripheral resistance, even in the absence of actual thermal energy.
Visual impressions may elicit thermoregulatory-like CV shifts; leaves open any clinical relevance for virtual environments and requires prospective study.
BACKGROUND: Human core body temperature is kept quasi-constant regardless of varying thermal environments. It is well known that physiological thermoregulatory systems are under the control of central and peripheral sensory organs that are sensitive to thermal energy. If these systems wrongly respond to non-thermal stimuli, it may disturb human homeostasis. METHODS: Fifteen participants viewed video images evoking hot or cold impressions in a thermally constant environment. Cardiovascular indices were recorded during the experiments. Correlations between the 'hot-cold' impression scores and cardiovascular indices were calculated. RESULTS: The changes of heart rate, cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance were significantly correlated with the 'hot-cold' impression scores, and the tendencies were similar to those in actual thermal environments corresponding to the impressions. CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest that visual information without any thermal energy can affect physiological thermoregulatory systems at least superficially. To avoid such 'virtual' environments disturbing human homeostasis, further study and more attention are needed.
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Takakura et al. (2013) studied Healthy volunteers (n=15). Video images evoking hot or cold impressions vs. Gray screen (baseline) was evaluated on Correlation between 'hot-cold' impression scores and changes in cardiac output (ΔCO) (r = 0.229, p=0.012). Viewing videos that evoke hot or cold impressions significantly correlated with changes in cardiac output (r=0.229) and total peripheral resistance (r=-0.247), mimicking responses to actual thermal environments.
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