Core Body Temperature and Social Arousal

Abstract

Arousal can be thought of as basic metabolic activity, which produces heat. Considerable metabolic activity takes place in the brain. Temperature measured at the tympanic membrane (eardrum) is highly correlated with core temperature at the hypothalamus and may provide an index of arousal. In two experiments tympanic temperature was observed to increase during social interaction. Temperature increased less with three partners than with one, possibly due to the diffusion of attention from others.The concept of arousal is widely employed by psychologists. Arousal is usually regarded as a generalized drive state which provides the motive force behind specific patterns of behavior. Zajonc (1965) has argued that people are aroused by the presence of others, and that this arousal facilitates performance of simple and well-learned tasks but interferes with more complex behavior. Unfortunately there is no simple measure of arousal, and in the social facilitation literature arousal is generally inferred from performance rather than measured directly. Malmo (1959) points out that arousal is variously regarded as energy release, neural activity, or a purely hypothetical construct. The most basic and straightforward formulation seems to us to be that of Duffy (1962), who defines arousal, or activation, as the release of an organism's stored energy through metabolic activity in the tissues. But the measures typically used--muscular tension, electrical activity in the skin or brain, respiration, cardiovascular phenomena--are a step removed from metabolic processes.Total metabolism can be measured by monitoring the calories of oxygen consumed, but this is hard to do and can mask arousal occurring independently in different parts of the body. Because metabolism produces heat, body temperature might provide an index of arousal. Renbourn (1960) reported higher temperature among boxers than among spectators just before a fight; he also reviewed numerous studies linking arousal and temperature. Skin temperature is affected by the exchange of heat between skin and air, but temperature inside the body is shielded more effectively from the outside environment.Internal temperature might provide an index of arousal at specific locations.The present study examined temperature at the tympanic membrane (eardrum). Tympanic temperature is correlated with core temperature at the hypothalamus (Rawson & Hammel, 1963), where temperature control centers are located, and can be uncorrelated or even negatively correlated with skin temperature (Benzinger, 1963). Tympanic thermometers are routinely used for monitoring temperature under general anesthesia during surgery.The device we used (from Radiation Systems, McLean, Virginia) employs a thermocouple embedded in a fine (.8-mm) and extremely pliable plastic lead, which the subject inserts into his ear. The device registers temperature on a panel meter and emits a dc signal which can be used with remote recording equipment. Changes in temperature can be detected quickly and precisely.

Ear temperature and brain blood flow: Laterality effects

“…Increases in term perature are not subject to the same limit and are in general much larger (cf. Dabbs & Moorer. 1975).…”

“…We suspect the occasional increases we observed were associated with feelings of anxiety and a failure to concentrate, but perhaps they would appear under any conditions of general arousal. Others report that unexpected interaction with a stranger leads to increases in temperature among animals (von Saint Paul & Aschoff, 1968) and among people (Dabbs & Moorer, 1975). Using telemetry, we plan to explore further the conditions that cause temperature to increase.…”

Internet and Biometric Web Based Business Management Decision Support

“…Therefore a conclusion can be drawn that a quarantine significantly affects the values of the happiness, valence and sadness variables. Dabbs and Moorer (1975) found that an index of arousal can be provided by human core temperature. A new marker of emotional arousal is functional infrared thermal imaging, which promises to become a method for measuring autonomic emotional responses via facial, cutaneous, thermal variations .…”

“…Their study regarded the mean measurement of musical intensity that could compare to arousal. These scholars believed that there were highly comparable characteristics between the arousal dimension and a measurement of their intensity.Yet, different scholars(Dabbs and Moorer, 1975, Zenju et al, 2002, Zenju et al, 2004, Salazar-López et al, 2015, Kosonogov et al, 2017) conducting research expressed different opinions regarding how human arousal and temperature correlated.…”