{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,5]],"date-time":"2026-02-05T11:56:18Z","timestamp":1770292578683,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"21","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,27]],"date-time":"2019-10-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1572134400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Psychological stress is known to activate the autonomic nervous system (ANS), thus representing a useful target to be monitored to understand the physiological, unconscious effect of stress on the human body. However, little is known about how differently the ANS responds to cognitive and sensory stimulations in healthy subjects. To this extent, we enrolled 23 subjects and administered a stress protocol consisting of the administration of sensory (olfactory) and cognitive (mathematical) stressors. Autonomic parameters were unobtrusively monitored through wearable sensors for capturing electrocardiogram and skin conductance signals. The results obtained demonstrated an increase of the heart rate during both stress protocols, with a similar decrease of the heart rate variability. Cognitive stress test appears to affect the autonomic parameters to a greater extent, confirming its effects on the human body. However, olfactory stimulation could be useful to study stress in specific experimental settings when the administration of complex cognitive testing is not feasible.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s19214661","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,28]],"date-time":"2019-10-28T04:44:31Z","timestamp":1572237871000},"page":"4661","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Comparative Evaluation of the Autonomic Response to Cognitive and Sensory Stimulations through Wearable Sensors"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8335-5541","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Tonacci","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Physiology\u2014National Research Council of Italy (IFC-CNR), Via Moruzzi 1, 56,124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5487-0277","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lucia","family":"Billeci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Physiology\u2014National Research Council of Italy (IFC-CNR), Via Moruzzi 1, 56,124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elisa","family":"Burrai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Engineering, University of Pisa, Largo Lucio Lazzarino 1, 56,122 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Sansone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Physiology\u2014National Research Council of Italy (IFC-CNR), Via Moruzzi 1, 56,124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Raffaele","family":"Conte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Clinical Physiology\u2014National Research Council of Italy (IFC-CNR), Via Moruzzi 1, 56,124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"374","DOI":"10.1038\/nrendo.2009.106","article-title":"Stress and disorders of the stress system","volume":"5","author":"Chrousos","year":"2009","journal-title":"Nat. Rev. Endocrinol."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"161","article-title":"Pediatric stress: hormonal mediators and human development","volume":"59","author":"Charmandari","year":"2003","journal-title":"Horm. Res."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"311","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1749-6632.1998.tb09006.x","article-title":"Stressors, Stress, and Neuroendocrine Integration of the Adaptive Response: The 1997 Hans Selye Memorial Lecture","volume":"851","author":"Chrousos","year":"1998","journal-title":"Ann. New York Acad. Sci."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"510","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2013.00510","article-title":"The sensory channel of presentation alters subjective ratings and autonomic responses toward disgusting stimuli\u2014Blood pressure, heart rate and skin conductance in response to visual, auditory, haptic and olfactory presented disgusting stimuli","volume":"7","author":"Croy","year":"2013","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychres.2019.02.026","article-title":"Autistic traits impact on olfactory processing in adolescent girls with Anorexia Nervosa restricting type","volume":"274","author":"Tonacci","year":"2019","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res. Neuroimaging"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"710","DOI":"10.3389\/fnins.2019.00710","article-title":"Heart Rate Variability and Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review","volume":"13","author":"Forte","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front. Mol. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"799","article-title":"An Integrated Approach for the Monitoring of Brain and Autonomic Response of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders during Treatment by Wearable Technologies","volume":"10","author":"Billeci","year":"2016","journal-title":"Front. Mol. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"143","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compbiomed.2016.04.001","article-title":"Monitoring of autonomic response to sociocognitive tasks during treatment in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders by wearable technologies: A feasibility study","volume":"85","author":"Tonacci","year":"2017","journal-title":"Comput. Boil. Med."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"118S","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000305","article-title":"Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity During Speech Repetition Tasks: Heart Rate Variability and Skin Conductance","volume":"37","author":"Mackersie","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ear Hearing"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tonacci, A., Billeci, L., Sansone, F., Masci, A., Pala, A.P., Domenici, C., and Conte, R. (2019). An Innovative, Unobtrusive Approach to Investigate Smartphone Interaction in Nonaddicted Subjects Based on Wearable Sensors: A Pilot Study. Medicina, 55.","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina55020037"},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"222","article-title":"\u201cSniffin\u2019 sticks\u201d: screening of olfactory performance","volume":"34","author":"Kobal","year":"1996","journal-title":"Rhinol. J."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2014.00012","article-title":"Hedonic appreciation and verbal description of pleasant and unpleasant odors in untrained, trainee cooks, flavorists, and perfumers","volume":"5","author":"Sezille","year":"2014","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1016\/j.anorl.2015.08.004","article-title":"How to assess olfactory performance with the Sniffin\u2019 Sticks test \u00ae","volume":"133","author":"Rumeau","year":"2016","journal-title":"Eur. Ann. Otorhinolaryngol. Head Neck Dis."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ynstr.2016.11.001","article-title":"The Trier Social Stress Test: Principles and practice","volume":"6","author":"Allen","year":"2016","journal-title":"Neurobiol. Stress"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"230","DOI":"10.1109\/TBME.1985.325532","article-title":"A Real-Time QRS Detection Algorithm","volume":"32","author":"Pan","year":"1985","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.3389\/fphys.2018.00467","article-title":"Heart Rate Variability During a Joint Attention Task in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorders","volume":"9","author":"Billeci","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. Physiol."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"258","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2017.00258","article-title":"An Overview of Heart Rate Variability Metrics and Norms","volume":"5","author":"Shaffer","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Public Heal."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1016\/S0165-1838(96)00112-9","article-title":"A new method of assessing cardiac autonomic function and its comparison with spectral analysis and coefficient of variation of R\u2013R interval","volume":"62","author":"Toichi","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Auton. Nerv. Syst."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1109\/TAU.1967.1161901","article-title":"The use of fast Fourier transform for the estimation of power spectra: A method based on time averaging over short, modified periodograms","volume":"15","author":"Welch","year":"1967","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Audio Electroacoustics"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jneumeth.2010.04.028","article-title":"A continuous measure of phasic electrodermal activity","volume":"190","author":"Benedek","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Neurosci. Methods"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpsycho.2010.01.011","article-title":"Analytic measures for quantification of arousal from spontaneous skin conductance fluctuations","volume":"76","author":"Bach","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Psychophysiol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"162","DOI":"10.1016\/S0304-3940(01)02572-1","article-title":"Influence of affective and cognitive judgments on autonomic parameters during inhalation of pleasant and unpleasant odors in humans","volume":"319","author":"Bensafi","year":"2002","journal-title":"Neurosci. Lett."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psyneuen.2014.02.003","article-title":"Mood and autonomic responses to repeated exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G)","volume":"43","author":"Boesch","year":"2014","journal-title":"Psychoneuroendocrinology"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psyneuen.2011.05.012","article-title":"The physiological response to Trier Social Stress Test relates to subjective measures of stress during but not before or after the test","volume":"37","author":"Hellhammer","year":"2012","journal-title":"Psychoneuroendocrinology"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpsycho.2004.09.009","article-title":"Human salivary alpha-amylase reactivity in a psychosocial stress paradigm","volume":"55","author":"Nater","year":"2005","journal-title":"Int. J. Psychophysiol."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e13079","DOI":"10.1111\/psyp.13079","article-title":"Parasympathetic and sympathetic activity are associated with individual differences in neural indices of selective attention in adults","volume":"55","author":"Giuliano","year":"2018","journal-title":"Psychophysiology"}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/19\/21\/4661\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T13:29:42Z","timestamp":1760189382000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/19\/21\/4661"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,27]]},"references-count":26,"journal-issue":{"issue":"21","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,11]]}},"alternative-id":["s19214661"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s19214661","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,27]]}}}