A THERMAL PERCEPTION SCALE FOR USE DURING RESTING EXPOSURE TO COLD-AIR

The present investigation introduces a thermal perception scale (TS) f or use during protracted resting cold exposure. The scale contains cat egories ranging consecutively from 0, i.e., Nothing at all, to 10, i.e ., Very, very cold. Eight Caucasian men were randomly exposed to ambie nt air in a climatically controlled environmental chamber of 8-degrees , 12-degrees, and 27-degrees-C for 120 min. on 3 separate occasions an d monitored for rectal temperature (T(re)), mean skin temperature (TBA R(sk)), ventilation (V(E)), and oxygen consumption (VO2). The terminal perceptual categories were anchored for 8 subjects and a standard set of instructions was presented prior to each trial. The anchor tempera ture was the room air in the anteroom which was 27-degrees-C, represen ting 0, i.e., ''Nothing at all,'' to extend the scale so that subseque nt judgments on the scale were expressed in relation to this category. In addition, the subjects were also asked to imagine the coldest that they have ever experienced and this was designed to anchor ''Very, ve ry cold.'' The relations between scale scores and the thermoregulatory variables were examined with a simple linear regression and coefficie nts of correlation and determination for each subject. High coefficien ts of determination between TBAR(sk), VO2, and V(E) indicated that, fo r individual subjects, the scores on the scale were related to V(E), T BAR(sk), and VO2. High reliability coefficients for TS were also repor ted. In addition, the ratings and VO2 relation tended to be similar be tween subjects. Therefore, this scale appears to be a valid and reliab le tool for measuring the perception of cold when at rest in air.