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In the current study using Infrared Thermal Imaging we examine the physiological thermal imprints of five macaques. The monkeys were exposed in three different experimental scenarios. Playing with a toy, food teasing as well as feeding. It was observed that during teasing the temperature of the region surrounding the eyes was higher than play as a result of rapid saccades directed at the food. Compared to play and teasing, a lower temperature accompanied feeding on the upper lip, nose and orbital region suggesting elevated levels of distress.
These findings prove that thermal imaging is a reliable method of physiological monitoring the subject at a distance while preserving a semi-experimental setting. Keywords: thermal imaging, physiology, rhesus macaques, emotions, autonomic nervous system, temperature.
Emotional experiences are tuned by the autonomic nervous system ANS preparing us to face a plethora of environmental challenges Levenson, Hair erection, vascular constriction, perspiration, heart rate, respiration as well as the inhibition of the digestive tract have their own biological function in survival Porges, Each emotion is driven by characteristic physiological elements and in the majority of cases conscious awareness of the somatic sensation gives feedback for avoidance or engagement Damasio, Autonomic excitation precedes behavioral engagement and by cognitively evaluating the situation in which the physiological episode arose; descriptive labels are commonly attributed to the felt emotion Schachter and Singer, ; Dutton and Aron, Although in humans a somatosensory distinction between the different types of emotion exists Nummenmaa et al.
Conventional physiological measurements limit the way biological data is collected since they require restriction of the subject's movement Nakayama et al.
