Tracking Nasal Skin Temperature to Assess Social Interaction Effects in Free-Ranging Macaques
Motivation
Infrared thermography is a promising non-invasive tool to measure changes in the autonomous nervous system as a proxy of emotional arousal. This method uses the body’s naturally emitted thermal radiation and allows to measure skin temperature changes contact-free in freely moving animals under ecologically valid settings. Fluctuations in skin temperature reflect variation in blood flow to the skin due to vasoconstriction: during high arousal situations blood flow to peripheral areas, such as the nose, is restricted leading to a decrease in skin temperature in these areas from baseline levels, while during relaxing, low arousal situations blood flow and consequently skin temperature is increased from baseline.
Project
We aim to measure changes in nasal skin temperature in free-ranging Barbary macaques following involvement in arousing and relaxing social interactions (conflicts and grooming interactions). To do so, we record nasal skin temperatures continuously using an infrared thermal camera (sampling rate 30 frames per second, optical resolution 640×480 pixels). To read out the temperature, we define a region of interest (ROI) on each frame, which includes the nasal area between the bridge and the top of the nose excluding the nostrils (see image above). This ROI will be tracked over video frames. Given this ROI tracking, we will extract a timeseries of nasal temperature values.
Prerequisites
This project is in collaboration with Carina Bruchmann, Oliver Schülke and Julia Oster at the German Primate Center. An interest in interdisciplinary work with behavioral ecologists is required.
The following skills are required:
- Familiar with Python (Pytorch, Numpy, Scipy would be helpful)
- Basic machine learning and deep learning knowledge
Contact
To apply please email Alexander Ecker stating your interest in this project and detailing your relevant skills. A part of this project could be also a lab rotation.
