Functional infrared thermal imaging (fITI) is considered an upcoming, promising methodology in the emotional arena. Driven by sympathetic nerves, observations of affective nature derive from muscular activity subcutaneous blood flow as well as perspiration patterns in specific body parts. A review of 23 experimental procedures that employed fITI for investigations of affective nature is provided, along with the adopted experimental protocol and the thermal changes that took place on selected regions of interest in human and nonhuman subjects. Discussion is provided regarding the selection of an appropriate baseline, the autonomic nature of the thermal print, the experimental setup, methodological issues, limitations, and considerations, as well as future directions.

So far inferences on early moral development and higher order self conscious emotions have mostly been based on behavioral data. Emotions though, as far as arguments support, are multidimensional notions. Not only do they involve behavioral actions upon perception of an event, but they also carry autonomic physiological markers. The current study aimed to examine and characterise physiological signs that underlie self-conscious emotions in early childhood, while grounding them on behavioral analyses. For this purpose, the “mishap paradigm” was used as the most reliable method for evoking feelings of “guilt” in children and autonomic facial temperature variation were detected by functional Infrared Imaging (fIRI). Fifteen children (age: 39–42 months) participated in the study. They were asked to play with a toy, falsely informed that it was the experimenter's “favourite”, while being unaware that it was pre-planned to break. Mishap of the toy during engagement caused sympathetic arousal as shown by peripheral nasal vasoconstriction leading to a marked temperature drop, compared to baseline. Soothing after the mishap phase induced an increase in nose temperature, associated with parasympathetic activity suggesting that the child's distress was neutralized, or even overcompensated. Behavioral analyses reported signs of distress evoked by the paradigm, backing up the thermal observation. The results suggest that the integration of physiological elements should be crucial in research concerning socio-emotional development. fIRI is a non invasive and non contact method providing a powerful tool for inferring early moral emotional signs based on physiological observations of peripheral vasoconstriction, while preserving an ecological and natural context.

Methodological challenges make physiological affective observations very restrictive as in many cases they take place in a laboratory setting rather than the animals' natural habitat. In the current study using Infrared Thermal Imaging we examine the physiological thermal imprints of five macaques. The monkeys were exposed in three different experimental scenarios. Playing with a toy, food teasing as well as feeding. It was observed that during teasing the temperature of the region surrounding the eyes was higher than play as a result of rapid saccades directed at the food. Compared to play and teasing, a lower temperature accompanied feeding on the upper lip, nose and orbital region suggesting elevated levels of distress. These findings prove that thermal imaging is a reliable method of physiological monitoring the subject at a distance while preserving a semi-experimental setting.