The connection between polymer chain orientation and several macroscopic proper ties in a polymer melt was studied using mechanical and optical techniques. Anisotropic thermal conductivity following shear deformation was measured wing forced Rayleigh light scattering, the refractive index tensor is followed using birefringence measurements, and the stress was measured mechanically in a parallel-plate rheometer: The thermal diffusivity measured in the from, and neutral directions increased and decreased, respectively, immediately following the deformation. These quantities then relaxed to the equilibrium value on the time-scale of the stress-relaxation memory. Comparison of the difference between measured flow and neutral direction thermal diffusivities with the analogous flow-induced birefringence in the same deformation provided indirect evidence for a linear relation between stress and thermal diffusivity at two different values of strain. Mechanical measurements were used to characterize the memory of the fluid.