A review of infrared thermography as applied to human sexual psychophysiology

Inês M Tavares; Ricardo Vardasca; Nicoletta Cera; Raquel Pereira; Filippo M Nimbi; Dominika Lisy; Erick Janssen; Pedro J Nobre

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.09.001

A review of infrared thermography as applied to human sexual psychophysiology

Int J Psychophysiol. 2018 Nov:133:28-40. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.09.001. Epub 2018 Sep 9.

Authors

Inês M Tavares¹, Ricardo Vardasca², Nicoletta Cera³, Raquel Pereira³, Filippo M Nimbi⁴, Dominika Lisy⁵, Erick Janssen⁶, Pedro J Nobre³

Affiliations

¹ SexLab, Center of Psychology of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: inesmmtavares@gmail.com.
² SexLab, Center of Psychology of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; LABIOMEP, INEGI-LAETA, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal; Medical Imaging Research Unit, Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, University of South Wales, United Kingdom.
³ SexLab, Center of Psychology of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
⁵ Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
⁶ Institute for Family and Sexuality Studies, Department of Neurosciences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.

PMID: 30208297
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.09.001

Abstract

Infrared thermography (IRT) is a non-contact technique that permits mapping and analysis of the temperature of the body's skin surface. This method has been applied to sexual psychophysiology since the 1980s and its use has been expanding ever since, mainly because it provides several advantages over existing genital response measures. This article presents a review of experimental studies employing IRT to investigate human sexual arousal, with the aim of summarizing the available procedures and evidence so far and to identify important caveats in the literature. The studies reviewed support the feasibility and validity of IRT as a real-time physiological measure of sexual arousal but varied substantially regarding methodology and procedures. The results of this review underscore the value and validity of IRT in sexual psychophysiology and point at the critical need for the standardization of IRT protocols to accommodate the specific needs of applying this methodology to sexual physiology.

Keywords: Infrared thermography; Instrumentation; Psychophysiology; Review; Sexual arousal.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Body Temperature / physiology*
Humans
Infrared Rays*
Sexual Behavior / physiology*
Thermography / methods*