PERCEIVED COLD AND SKIN TEMPERATURE AS FUNCTIONS OF STIMULATION LEVEL AND DURATION.

Journal/Book: American Journal of Psychology 1972 Vol. 85 No. 3. 1972;

Abstract: John B. Pierce Foundation Laboratory and Yale University Stimulation was a reduction (H) in the magnitude of heat flux irradiating subjects in cold air. For any constant duration the terminal cold experienced grew as a power function of (H); the exponent ranged from 1.2 for the longest duration (30.9 sec) to 1.7 for the shortest (3.9 sec). For any constant H cold unlike warmth increased continuously and markedly with duration. Perceived cold at low but not at high levels of H correlated strongly with changes in skin temperature. This study examines how the magnitude of perceived cold (cold sensation) and of skin temperature depend an the length of time the body is exposed to various levels of cold stimulation. In an experiment a given subject lay supine in very cold air and was irradiated from above by heat lamps regulated to make him comfortable. From time to time the irradiation was abruptly lowered in order to arouse a sensation of cold whose magnitude the subject attempted to assess numerically (the method of magnitude estimation). schö

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