The current study sought to examine differences in physiological responses to comfortable thermal stimuli applied to thesoles of the feet during the simultaneous presentation of other sensory stimuli. As relaxing stimuli, underwater movie footage, classicalmusic, light blue illumination, vibration of the trunk, and the odor of grapefruit oil were each presented simultaneously with a thermalstimulus. Electroencephalography of parietal and cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex were measured. An increase in α-waveactivity and a decrease in cerebral blood flow were found for all combinations of stimuli compared with baseline. Additionally, theresults revealed differences in response speed depending on the stimulus presentation condition. However, the tendency suggesting adifference in response times depending on the stimulus condition was similar to that of the thermal stimulus alone. The results indicatedthat thermal stimulation has a substantial effect on the feeling of relaxation.
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