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Predicting thermal pleasure experienced in dynamic environments from simulated cutaneous thermoreceptor activity
Author(s) -
Parkinson Thomas,
Zhang Hui,
Arens Ed,
He Yingdong,
de Dear Richard,
Elson John,
Parkinson Alex,
Maranville Clay,
Wang Andrew
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12859
Subject(s) - pleasure , perception , thermoreceptor , thermal comfort , thermal , reliability (semiconductor) , sensory system , neutrality , psychology , computer science , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , geography , meteorology , physics , thermodynamics , power (physics) , philosophy , epistemology
Research into human thermal perception indoors has focused on “neutrality” under steady‐state conditions. Recent interest in thermal alliesthesia has highlighted the hedonic dimension of our thermal world that has been largely overlooked by science. Here, we show the activity of sensory neurons can predict thermal pleasure under dynamic exposures. A numerical model of cutaneous thermoreceptors was applied to skin temperature measurements from 12 human subjects. A random forest model trained on simulated thermoreceptor impulses could classify pleasure responses (F1 score of 67%) with low false positives/negatives (4%). Accuracy increased (83%) when excluding the few extreme (dis)pleasure responses. Validation on an independent dataset confirmed model reliability. This is the first empirical demonstration of the relationship between thermoreceptors and pleasure arising from thermal stimuli. Insights into the neurophysiology of thermal perception can enhance the experience of built environments through designs that promote sensory excitation instead of neutrality.