Graduate School of Integrated Frontier Science, Kyushu University, 4-9-1, Shiobaru, Minami-Ku, Fukuoka, Japan.
J Physiol Anthropol. 2013 Dec 28;32(1):26. doi: 10.1186/1880-6805-32-26.
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.
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.
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.
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.
无论周围环境的温度如何变化，人体核心体温都保持相对恒定。众所周知，生理体温调节系统受中枢和外周感觉器官的控制，这些器官对热能敏感。如果这些系统对非热刺激错误反应，可能会扰乱人体的内稳态。
15 名参与者在恒温环境中观看了引起热或冷印象的视频图像。实验过程中记录心血管指数。计算了“热-冷”印象评分与心血管指数之间的相关性。
心率、心输出量和总外周阻力的变化与“热-冷”印象评分显著相关，其趋势与对应印象的实际热环境相似。
本研究结果表明，没有任何热能的视觉信息至少可以在表面上影响生理体温调节系统。为了避免这种“虚拟”环境扰乱人体的内稳态，需要进一步研究和更多关注。
