Multispectral Optical Sensor for Psychological Stress Detection

The human skin is a complex organ responsive to physiological and psychological states. In the current study, we aim to individuate stress-related skin response with a high-throughput multimodal combination of optical techniques. Raman, reflectance, and fluorescence spectra were recorded on the palm skin of healthy volunteers using a multimodal fiber-probe device developed by our group and previously described. The cognitive-emotional stress was induced with the Montreal Imaging Stress Task. Electrodermal activity, heart rate, and heart rate variability were monitored throughout the experiment. A multimodal approach achieved 100% accuracy in classifying “no-stress” and “stress” conditions. The Raman bands associated with stress biomarkers such as cortisol, lactic acid, and ceramides correlated with the spectral shifts observed in our experiments. The results confirm the potential in application of our multispectral optical sensor for the non-invasive detection of psychological stress.