Visual information without thermal energy may induce thermoregulatory-like cardiovascular responses

Journal of Physiological Anthropology

Shigeki Watanuki³  Takayuki Nishimura¹  Jun'ya Takakura² 

[1] Department of Public Health, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-12-4, Sakamoto, Nagasaki, Japan;Graduate School of Integrated Frontier Science, Kyushu University, 4-9-1, Shiobaru, Minami-Ku, Fukuoka, Japan;Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, 4-9-1, Shiobaru, Minami-Ku, Fukuoka, Japan

关键词: Virtual reality;    Physiological thermoregulatory systems;    Cardiovascular responses;    Impressions;    Visual information;    Video;   

Others  :  861530
DOI  :  10.1186/1880-6805-32-26

 received in 2013-05-18, accepted in 2013-11-27,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Takakura et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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