QIF-T0092

Thermal facial stress and emotion inference (IR thermography for autonomic nervous system state extraction)

The autonomic nervous system modulates facial skin temperature through vasoconstriction/vasodilation in response to stress, cognitive load, deception, arousal, and emotional states. Periorbital temperature (around the eyes) drops during stress as blood redirects to core muscles. Nasal tip temperature correlates with cognitive load. Forehead temperature maps to anxiety. Thermal cameras (LWIR, 8-14 µm) capture these patterns contactlessly. While consumer thermal cameras are not yet standard in phones, they are available as accessories (FLIR One, Seek Thermal), integrated into some laptops (for presence detection), and standard in many security/surveillance systems. Pavlidis et al. (2002) demonstrated thermal imaging as a polygraph alternative. As thermal sensors become cheaper and more integrated into consumer devices, this becomes a passive emotion/stress surveillance channel.