Thermography is a technique based on the detection of body temperature that is applied to a multitude of areas such as industry, construction or medicine. Researchers from the University of Granada Emilio Gómez Milan and Elvira Salazar López have applied this technique to the field of Psychology, obtaining very novel and interesting results. Among other things they have discovered that,in situations in which a subject makes a mental effort (facing difficult tasks, being evaluated or lying about a fact), facial thermal changes occur.
For example, when we lie about our feelings, these thermal changes occur in the nose, and a structure called the insula is activated in the brain, which is part of the brain’s reward system when there are real feelings, but is not activated when there are not. there are. “The insula is involved in the detection and regulation of body temperature, so there is a great negative correlation between the activity of this structure and the magnitude of the thermal change:the more activity of the insula (the greater the visceral feeling), the less thermal change occurs, and vice versa ”, the researchers emphasize.
Thermography and empathy
In addition, thermography is used to assess emotions and to determine theemotional contagion. “For example, people with very high empathy, if they see someone suffer through electric shocks to the forearm, they become infected and the temperature of their forearm increases.” In addition, in certain neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, the body does not regulate temperature well in the face of heat and cold, which is detected with a thermogram. Other applications of thermography are to determine the body pattern of fat, something very useful for weight loss and physical training programs, as well as changes in body temperature in celiacs, people with anorexia, etc.
