書誌： Eur J Appl Physiol , 2013
Eur J Appl Physiol (2013) 113:63–76
Mayumi Nakamura • Tamae Yoda • Larry I. Crawshaw • Momoko Kasuga • Yuki Uchida • Ken Tokizawa • Kei Nagashima • Kazuyuki Kanosue
Abstract In a previous study, we investigated the contribution of the surface of the face, chest, abdomen, and thigh tothermal comfort by applying local temperature stimulationduring whole-body exposure to mild heat or cold. In hotconditions, humans prefer a cool face, and in cold they prefera warm abdomen. In this study, we extended investigation ofregional differences in thermal comfort to the neck, hand,soles, abdomen (Experiment 1), the upper and lower back,upper arm, and abdomen (Experiment 2). The methodologywas similar to that used in the previous study. To compare theresults of each experiment, we utilized the abdomen as thereference area in these experiments. Thermal comfort feelings were not particularly strong for the limbs and extremities, in spite of the fact that changes in skin temperatureinduced by local temperature stimulation of the limbs andextremities were always larger than changes that wereinduced in the more proximal body parts. For the trunk areas,a significant difference in thermal comfort was not observedamong the abdomen, and upper and lower back. An exception involved local cooling during whole-body mild coldexposure, wherein the most dominant preference was for awarmer temperature of the abdomen. As for the neck andabdomen, clear differences were observed during localcooling, while no significant difference was observed duringlocal warming. We combined the results for the current andthe previous study, and characterized regional differences inthermal comfort and thermal preference for the whole-bodysurface.
Keywords : Thermal comfort, Temperature sensation, Behavioral thermoregulation, Heat exposure, Coldexposure