Validation of the ISP131001 sensor for mobile peripheral body temperature measurement

Previous studies have indicated that temperature regulation is related to social behavior (for an overview, see IJzerman et al., 2015; IJzerman & Hogerzeil, 2017). However, precise causal relationships between temperature and social behaviors are unclear. These links may be better understood by frequently measuring temperature in daily life and mapping those measurements onto social behaviors. The primary purpose of the present study was to enable such studies by validating a new wireless temperature sensor, the ISP131001 from Insight SiP, for human peripheral temperature measurement in daily life. In our exploratory dataset, we found moderately high correlations between two ISP131001 sensors and a comparison sensor (r = .82 for the average of our two ISP sensors). These correlations replicated in our confirmatory dataset (r = .94 for the average of our two ISP sensors). A secondary purpose of this report is the inclusion of a standard set of relevant measures for social thermoregulation research. We believe that this standard protocol of measures be included in all future social thermoregulation studies in order to facilitate and encourage data re-use and aggregation across studies.