scholarly journals Experimenter Effects on Pain Reporting in Women Vary across the Menstrual Cycle

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob M. Vigil ◽  
Jared DiDomenico ◽  
Chance Strenth ◽  
Patrick Coulombe ◽  
Eric Kruger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Menstrual Cycle ◽  
Person Perception ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Low Fertility ◽  
Hormonal Contraceptives ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
Pain Reporting ◽  
Pain Experiences

Background. Separate lines of research have shown that menstrual cycling and contextual factors such as the gender of research personnel influence experimental pain reporting.Objectives. This study examines how brief, procedural interactions with female and male experimenters can affect experimentally reported pain (cold pressor task, CPT) across the menstrual cycle.Methods. Based on the menstrual calendars 94 naturally cycling women and 38 women using hormonal contraceptives (Mage=19.83,  SD=3.09) were assigned to low and high fertility groups. This assignment was based on estimates of their probability of conception given their current cycle day. Experimenters (12 males, 7 females) engaged in minimal procedural interactions with participants before the CPT was performed in solitude.Results. Naturally cycling women in the high fertility group showed significantly higher pain tolerance (81 sec,d=.79) following interactions with a male but not a female experimenter. Differences were not found for women in the low fertility or contraceptive groups.Discussion. The findings illustrate that menstrual functioning moderates the effect that experimenter gender has on pain reporting in women.Conclusion. These findings have implications for standardizing pain measurement protocols and understanding how basic biopsychosocial mechanisms (e.g., person-perception systems) can modulate pain experiences.

scholarly journals Laboratory Personnel Gender and Cold Pressor Apparatus Affect Subjective Pain Reports

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. e13-e18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob M Vigil ◽  
Lauren N Rowell ◽  
Joe Alcock ◽  
Randy Maestes
Keyword(s):  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Cold Pain ◽  
Laboratory Personnel ◽  
Subjective Pain ◽  
Lower Pain ◽  
Pain Reporting ◽  
Pain Reports

BACKGROUND: There is no standardized method for cold pressor pain tasks across experiments. Temperature, apparatus and aspects of experimenters vary widely among studies. It is well known that experimental pain tolerance is influenced by setting as well as the sex of the experimenter. It is not known whether other contextual factors influence experimental pain reporting.OBJECTIVES: The present two-part experiment examines whether minimizing and standardizing interactions with laboratory personnel (eg, limiting interaction with participants to consenting and questions and not during the actual pain task) eliminates the influence of examiner characteristics on subjective pain reports and whether using different cold pain apparatus (cooler versus machine) influences reports.METHODS:The present experiment manipulated the gender of the experimenter (male, female and transgender) and the type of cold pressor task (CPT) apparatus (ice cooler versus refrigerated bath circulator). Participants conducted the CPT at one of two pain levels (5°C or 16°C) without an experimenter present.RESULTS:Men and women showed lower pain sensitivity when they were processed by biological male personnel than by biological female personnel before the CPT. Women who interacted with a transgendered researcher likewise reported higher pain sensitivity than women processed by biological male or female researchers. The type of CPT apparatus, despite operating at equivalent temperatures, also influenced subjective pain reports.DISCUSSION: The findings show that even minimal interactions with laboratory personnel who differ in gender, and differences in laboratory materials impact the reliable measurement of pain.CONCLUSION: More standardized protocols for measuring pain across varying research and clinical settings should be developed.

scholarly journals Fertility-Dependent Acoustic Variation in Women’s Voices Previously Shown to Affect Listener Physiology and Perception

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 147470491984310
Author(s):  
Melanie L. Shoup-Knox ◽  
Grant M. Ostrander ◽  
Gabrielle E. Reimann ◽  
R. Nathan Pipitone
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Menstrual Cycle ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Low Fertility ◽  
Hormonal Contraceptives ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
Physiological Changes ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Acoustic Variation

Previous research demonstrates that listeners perceive women’s voices as more attractive when recorded at high compared to low fertility phases of the menstrual cycle. This effect has been repeated with multiple voice recording samples, but one stimuli set has shown particularly robust replications. First collected by Pipitone and Gallup (2008), women were recorded counting from 1–10 on approximately the same day and time once a week for 4 weeks. Repeatedly, studies using these recordings have shown that naturally cycling women recorded at high fertility are rated as more attractive compared to voices of the same women at low fertility. Additionally, these stimuli have been shown to elicit autonomic nervous system arousal and precipitate a rise in testosterone levels among listeners. Although previous studies have examined the acoustic properties of voices across the menstrual cycle, they reach little consensus. The current study evaluates Pipitone and Gallup’s voice stimuli from an acoustic perspective, analyzing specific vocal characteristics of both naturally cycling women and women taking hormonal contraceptives. Results show that among naturally cycling women, variation in vocal amplitude (shimmer) was significantly lower in high fertility recordings compared to the women’s voices at low fertility. Harmonics-to-noise ratio and variation in voice pitch (jitter) also fluctuated systematically across voices sampled at different times during the menstrual cycle, though these effects were not statistically significant. It is possible that these acoustic changes could account for some of the replicated perceptual, hormonal, and physiological changes documented in prior literature using these voice stimuli.

scholarly journals The Confounding Effect of Assessor Ethnicity on Subjective Pain Reporting in Women

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jacob Miguel Vigil ◽  
Patrick Coulombe ◽  
Lauren Nikki Rowell ◽  
Chance Strenth ◽  
Eric Kruger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pain Intensity ◽  
Severe Pain ◽  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Random Effects Models ◽  
Subjective Pain ◽  
Lower Pain ◽  
Pain Reporting ◽  
Hispanic White

The current study examines how subjective pain reporting is influenced by the concordant and discordant nature of the ethnic identities of pain expressers (participants) and pain assessors (experimenters). Three discomfort conditions that varied in stimuli intensity (Study 1: mild pain; Study 2: severe pain), and distraction components (Study 3) were used to assess whether pain intensity and tolerance reporting differ with the ethnic identification of the participant and the experimenter. Specifically, 87 Hispanic and 74 Non-Hispanic White (NHW) women (18–51 yrs., Mage = 20.0, SD = 4.3) underwent a cold pressor pain task (CPT) after engaging in minimal procedural interactions with one of the 22 research experimenters (47% Hispanic, 42% females). The procedural interactions with the experimenters included only consenting and instructions, with no interaction between experimenter and participant during the actual CPT. Random-effects models showed that between the 0% and 18% of the variance in pain sensitivity (intensity and tolerance scores) was attributable to characteristics of the experimenters. Controlling for self-esteem, baseline pain levels, and the gender of the experimenter, Hispanic subjects showed higher pain sensitivity (as marked by lower pain tolerance and higher pain intensity scores) following interactions with an NHW rather than a Hispanic experimenter in response to the most severe pain intensity stimuli. These results question the validity of common findings of ethnic differences in pain sensitivity from studies that have not accounted for the ethnic identity of the pain assessor (and the general communicative nature of pain reporting).

scholarly journals Experimental Pain Responses in Children with Chronic Pain and in Healthy Children: How Do They Differ?

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennie CI Tsao ◽  
Subhadra Evans ◽  
Laura C Seidman ◽  
Lonnie K Zeltzer
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Cold Pain ◽  
Lower Pain ◽  
Pain Responses

BACKGROUND: Extant research comparing laboratory pain responses of children with chronic pain with healthy controls is mixed, with some studies indicating lower pain responsivity for controls and others showing no differences. Few studies have included different pain modalities or assessment protocols.OBJECTIVES: To compare pain responses among 26 children (18 girls) with chronic pain and matched controls (mean age 14.8 years), to laboratory tasks involving thermal heat, pressure and cold pain. Responses to cold pain were assessed using two different protocols: an initial trial of unspecified duration and a second trial of specified duration.METHODS: Four trials of pressure pain and of thermal heat pain stimuli, all of unspecified duration, were administered, as well as the two cold pain trials. Heart rate and blood pressure were assessed at baseline and after completion of the pain tasks.RESULTS: Pain tolerance and pain intensity did not differ between children with chronic pain and controls for the unspecified trials. For the specified cold pressor trial, 92% of children with chronic pain completed the entire trial compared with only 61.5% of controls. Children with chronic pain exhibited a trend toward higher baseline and postsession heart rate and reported more anxiety and depression symptoms compared with control children.CONCLUSIONS: Contextual factors related to the fixed trial may have exerted a greater influence on pain tolerance in children with chronic pain relative to controls. Children with chronic pain demonstrated a tendency toward increased arousal in anticipation of and following pain induction compared with controls.

scholarly journals Classification of Game Demand and the Presence of Experimental Pain Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Fairclough ◽  
Chelsea Dobbins ◽  
Kellyann Stamp
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Cold Pressor Test ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Test Protocol ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Pain tolerance can be increased by the introduction of an active distraction, such as a computer game. This effect has been found to be moderated by game demand, i.e., increased game demand = higher pain tolerance. A study was performed to classify the level of game demand and the presence of pain using implicit measures from functional Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and heart rate features from an electrocardiogram (ECG). Twenty participants played a racing game that was configured to induce low (Easy) or high (Hard) levels of demand. Both Easy and Hard levels of game demand were played with or without the presence of experimental pain using the cold pressor test protocol. Eight channels of fNIRS data were recorded from a montage of frontal and central-parietal sites located on the midline. Features were generated from these data, a subset of which were selected for classification using the RELIEFF method. Classifiers for game demand (Easy vs. Hard) and pain (pain vs. no-pain) were developed using five methods: Support Vector Machine (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbour (kNN), Naive Bayes (NB) and Random Forest (RF). These models were validated using a ten fold cross-validation procedure. The SVM approach using features derived from fNIRS was the only method that classified game demand at higher than chance levels (accuracy = 0.66, F1 = 0.68). It was not possible to classify pain vs. no-pain at higher than chance level. The results demonstrate the viability of utilising fNIRS data to classify levels of game demand and the difficulty of classifying pain when another task is present.

scholarly journals The Effects of Mindful Attention on Cold Pressor Pain in Children

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Petter ◽  
Christine T Chambers ◽  
Jill MacLaren Chorney
Keyword(s):  
Pain Intensity ◽  
Acute Pain ◽  
Coping Style ◽  
Guided Imagery ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Trait Mindfulness ◽  
Cold Pressor Task ◽  
Mindful Attention

BACKGROUND: Typical interventions for acute pain in children attempt to reduce pain by directing attention away from pain. Conversely, mindfulness involves devoting attention to one’s experience in an accepting and nonjudgmental way. However, the effect that instructing children to mindfully devote attention to acute pain has on pain outcomes is unknown.OBJECTIVES: To examine whether mindful attention can help children attend to pain without increasing pain intensity or decreasing pain tolerance; to compare the effects of mindful attention with a well-established intervention designed to take attention away from pain (guided imagery); and to test whether baseline coping style or trait mindfulness alter the effects of these interventions.METHODS: A total of 82 children (10 to 14 years of age) completed measures of coping style and trait mindfulness. Participants then received either mindful attention or guided imagery instructions designed to direct attention toward or away from pain, respectively, before participating in a cold pressor task.RESULTS: The mindful attention group reported more awareness of the physical sensations of pain and thoughts about those sensations. Overall, there were no between-group differences in measures of pain intensity or pain tolerance during the cold pressor task, and no evidence of an interaction between baseline characteristics of the child and experimental condition.CONCLUSIONS: Mindful attention was successful in helping children focus attention on experimental pain without increasing pain intensity or decreasing tolerance compared with a well-established intervention for acute pain reduction.

scholarly journals Can Sensory- and Attachment-Informed Approaches Modify the Perception of Pain? An Experimental Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Pamela Joy Meredith ◽  
Nicole Emma Andrews ◽  
Jessica Thackeray ◽  
Sophie Bowen ◽  
Cory Poll ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Coping Strategy ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Pain Experiences ◽  
Pain Test

Accumulating evidence linking pain with both attachment and sensory processing variables introduces the possibility that attachment- and sensory-informed strategies may modify pain experiences. The aim of this study was to investigate this proposition using an experimentally induced pain procedure. Pain perceptions of individuals using either a sensory-informed (weighted modality) or an attachment-informed (secure base priming) coping strategy were compared with those of individuals using no designated coping strategy. An independent measures experimental study design was used with a convenience sample of 272 pain-free adults. Experimental participants (n = 156) were randomly allocated to either an attachment (n = 75) or a sensory (n = 81) intervention group. Data from these participants were compared to those of 116 participants involved in an earlier cold pressor study in which no coping strategy was used. All participants completed the same sensory, attachment, and distress questionnaires and participated in the same cold pressor pain test. ANCOVAs revealed that participants in the sensory- and attachment-informed intervention groups reported significantly higher pain thresholds than the control group. Participants allocated to the sensory group also reported higher pain intensity scores than the control group. There were no significant differences in pain tolerance between the three groups after controlling for covariates. While further research is required, findings encourage further consideration of sensory- and attachment-informed strategies for people anticipating a painful experience.

Exercise and conditioned pain modulation have different effects on cuff pressure pain tolerance in humans

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-190
Author(s):  
H.B. Madsen ◽  
G. Handberg ◽  
T. Graven-Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Pain Sensitivity ◽  
Biceps Brachii ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Lower Leg ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Dominant Hand ◽  
Deep Tissue ◽  
Different Types

Abstract Background/aims Exercise and experimental pain is known to cause an acute decrease of the pain sensitivity. Assessment of pain inhibitory mechanisms is often done by paradigms of exercise and experimental pain in both healthy subjects and pain patients. It is currently unknown whether pain and different types of exercise has similar effects on pain sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of experimental pain and different types of exercise on deep tissue pain tolerance in healthy subjects. Methods On two separate days fifty-four healthy subjects (23 females, 33.8 ± 15.0 years) were assigned in random order to cold pressor tests (ice water at 1–2°C; 120 s duration) for the dominant hand and foot, bicycling exercises (100 W and 200 W; 20 min duration), and isometric contraction exercises (30% and 60% of maximal voluntary contraction, MVC; 180 s duration) of the dominant quadriceps and biceps brachii muscles. Before, immediately after, and 10 min after cold pressor tests and exercises, pressure pain tolerance (PTT) were assessed with computerized cuff-algometry at the non-dominant lower-leg and upper arm. Subjects reaching maximum stimulation intensity at baseline were excluded from the analysis. PTTs were analysed with repeated measures ANOVA and multiple comparisons. Results Immediately and 10 min after the cold pressor test in the dominant hand and foot significantly increased PTTs were found at the non-dominant upper arm and lower leg (P < 0.05). Both intensities of dominant biceps brachii isometric contractions produced a significant increase in the PTT at the non-dominant lower leg immediately after and 10 min after contractions (P < 0.05). After the 30% dominant quadriceps isometric contraction the PTT at the non-dominant lower leg was significantly increased (P < 0.05). Conclusion Cold pressor pain produced a contralateral and extrasegmental increase in deep tissue pain tolerance. Isometric arm exercise produced an extrasegmental increase in pain tolerance, whereas isometric leg contractions produced a contralateral effect. Aerobic exercise had no effect on pain tolerance. Thus, exercise and pain related inhibitory effects were not comparable. Acknowledgment/disclosures H.B. Madsen was supported by grants from the philanthropic foundation TrygFonden (7-11-0990), The Danish Rheumatism Association 8R95-A1871), The Research Foundation of the Danish Physiotherapy Association and The Fund for Physiotherapy in Private Practice.

scholarly journals Brief Compassion-Focused Imagery Dampens Physiological Pain Responses

Mindfulness ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2730-2740
Author(s):  
Frances A. Maratos ◽  
David Sheffield
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Pain Coping ◽  
Imagery Condition ◽  
Physiological Stress Response

Abstract Objectives Affiliative processes are postulated to improve pain coping. Comparatively, compassion-focused imagery (CFI) also stimulates affiliate affect systems with a burgeoning behavioural, cognitive and physiological evidence base. Thus, the purpose of the present research was to investigate if engaging in brief CFI could improve pain coping. Methods Utilising a randomised repeated measures crossover design, 37 participants were subjected to experimental pain (cold pressor) following counter-balanced engagement with CFI or control imagery, 1 week apart. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and questionnaire measures of emotional responding were taken: at baseline, following introduction to the imagery condition (anticipation), and immediately after the cold pressor pain task (actual). Results Participants exhibited increases in sAA levels in response to pain following control imagery but, no such changes were observed following CFI (i.e. there was a significant time-by-condition interaction). Pain tolerance (the length of time participants immersed their hands in the cold pressor) did not differ by imagery condition. However, sAA responses to actual pain predicted decreased pain tolerance in the CFI condition. Additionally, anticipatory sAA response predicted increased pain tolerance across both conditions. None of the emotional measures of well-being differed by imagery condition, nor by condition over time. Conclusions These data demonstrate that using CFI can curtail a physiological stress response to pain, as indicated by increases in sAA in the control imagery condition only, following pain; pain tolerance was not influenced by CFI. Compassion-based approaches may therefore help people cope with the stress associated with pain.

scholarly journals A longitudinal exploration of pain tolerance and participation in contact sports

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Thornton ◽  
David Sheffield ◽  
Andrew Baird
Keyword(s):  
Pain Intensity ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
American Football ◽  
Pain Coping ◽  
Cold Pain ◽  
Contact Sports ◽  
Over Time

AbstractBackground/aims Athletes who choose to engage in contact sports do so with the knowledge that participation will bring pain in the form of contact with others, injury, and from exertion. Whilst athletes who play contact sports have been shown to have higher pain tolerance than those who do not, it is unclear whether this is a result of habituation over time, or as a result of individual differences at the outset. The aim was to compare pain responses over an athletic season in athletes who participated in contact sport and those who disengaged from it.Methods One hundred and two new contact athletes completed measures of cold and ischaemic pain tolerance, perceived pain intensity, pain bothersomeness, pain coping styles and attendance at the start, middle (4 months) and end (8 months) of their season. The athletes were drawn from martial arts, rugby and American football. Cluster analysis placed 47 athletes into a participating category and 55 into a non-participating cluster.ResultsParticipating athletes had higher ischaemic pain tolerance at the start (r = 0.27, p = 0.05), middle (r = 0.41, p < 0.0001) and end of the season (r = 0.57, p < 0.0001) compared to non-participating athletes. In addition participating athletes were more tolerant to cold pain at the end of the season (r = 0.39, p < 0.0001), compared to non-participating athletes. Participating athletes also exhibited higher direct coping, catastrophized less about injury pain and also found contact pain to be less bothersome physically and psychologically compared to non-participating athletes. Participating athletes were more tolerant of ischaemic pain at the end of the season compared to the start (r = 0.28, p = 0.04). Conversely nonparticipating athletes became significantly less tolerant to both pain stimuli by the end of the season (cold pressor; r = 0.54, p < 0.0001; ischaemia; r = 0.43, p = 0.006). Pain intensity as measured by a visual analogue scale did not change over the season for both groups.Conclusions Those who cease participation in contact sports become less pain tolerant of experimental pain, possibly a result of catastrophizing. The results suggest that athletes who commit to contact sports find pain less bothersome over time, possibly as a result of experience and learning to cope with pain. Athletes who continue to participate in contact sports have a higher pain tolerance, report less bothersomeness and have higher direct coping than those who drop out. In addition, tolerance to ischaemic pain increased over the season for participating athletes.ImplicationsHaving a low pain tolerance should not prevent athletes from taking part in contact sports, as pain becomes less bothersome in athletes who adhere to such activities. Participating in contact sports may result in maintained cold pain tolerance, increased ischaemic pain tolerance, reduced catastrophizing and better coping skills. Coaches can therefore work with athletes to develop pain coping strategies to aid adherence to contact sports.

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