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The remote sensing of mental stress from the electromagnetic reflection coefficient of human skin in the sub‐THz range
Author(s) -
Safrai Eli,
Ishai Paul Ben,
Caduff Andreas,
Puzenko Alexander,
Polsman Alexander,
Agranat Aharon J.,
Feldman Yuri
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
bioelectromagnetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.435
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-186X
pISSN - 0197-8462
DOI - 10.1002/bem.21698
Subject(s) - reflection coefficient , stress (linguistics) , reflection (computer programming) , frequency band , mental stress , optics , range (aeronautics) , terahertz radiation , physics , materials science , optoelectronics , computer science , telecommunications , medicine , antenna (radio) , philosophy , linguistics , composite material , programming language
Recent work has demonstrated that the reflection coefficient of human skin in the frequency range from 95 to 110 GHz (W band) mirrors the temporal relaxation of stress induced by physical exercise. In this work, we extend these findings to show that in the event of a subtle trigger to stress, such as mental activity, a similar picture of response emerges. Furthermore, the findings are extended to cover not only the W band (75–110 GHz), but also the frequency band from 110 to 170 GHz (D band). We demonstrate that mental stress, induced by the Stroop effect and recorded by the galvanic skin response (GSR), can be correlated to the reflection coefficient in the aforementioned frequency bands. Intriguingly, a light physical stress caused by repeated hand gripping clearly showed an elevated stress level in the GSR signal, but was largely unnoted in the reflection coefficient in the D band. The implication of this observation requires further validation. Bioelectromagnetics 33:375–382, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.