Patent ID: 7231240

Claim:
A psychological state assessment device which has a subject perform an assignment that comprises multiple tasks and that sets up a rest, a time during which a task is not given, between a specified task and the following task, and which assesses the psychological state when performing the assignment, comprising: a measurement unit that detects specified parameter signals having a correlation to the amount of blood and/or the amount of blood components in a specified measurement site in the brain of the aforementioned subject, and measures the intensity of the parameter signals; a calculator that calculates the amount of blood and/or amount of blood components based on the parameter signal intensities that the measurement unit measures; a time change data generator that generates time change data indicating the time changes for the amount of blood and/or the amount of blood components when performing a task and when resting respectively by acquiring sequentially over time the amount of blood and/or the amount of blood components that the calculator calculates; and an output unit that outputs such that a distinction can be made between time change data while performing a task and time change data while at rest, both of which are generated by the time sequence data generator, and also outputs such that the time change data during a specified rest can be compared with time change data while performing the immediately prior and immediately following tasks; and configured such that the psychological state of the subject when performing the assignment is assessed based on the aforementioned time change data while at rest, wherein the aforementioned calculator calculates a baseline corrected amount of blood and/or amount of blood components when performing a task and when resting respectively, based on the parameter signal intensities measured by the aforementioned measurement unit during performance of the task and the parameter signal intensities measured when resting.