Perceptual characteristics of electrocutaneous pain estimated by the 30-word list and visual analog scale

• Published in: Japanese Psychological Research Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 155 - 164
• Main Authors: SATOW, AIKO, NAKATANI, KATSUYA, TANIGUCHI, SHUNJI, HIGASHIYAMA, ATSUKI
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo The Japanese Psychological Association 01.01.1990; Japanese Psychological Association
• Subjects: adaptation level; Biological and medical sciences; cross modal; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; heptagon profile; intolerability; Miscellaneous; pain; pentagon; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Human; Perceptual adaptation; Pain; Electrical stimulus; Tolerance; Perception; Models
• ISSN: 0021-5368; 1468-5884
• DOI: 10.4992/psycholres1954.32.155

In Experiment I a list of 30 words for assessing various kinds of pain was compiled, and 110 college students were asked to estimate each of the 30 words by point scales for seven perceptual characteristics of pain, i. e., duration, interval, movement, depth, area, volume, and intensity. Results were illustrated in heptagon profiles and ranked by their intolerability. In Experiment II, the perceptual characteristics of pains produced by two sets (high or low) of six electrocutaneous stimuli were estimate by 34 subjects utilizing the same list of 30 words and a visual analog scale. Results showed that the high-current stimulation produced two kinds of pain. The low-current stimulation evoked three kinds of pain which were peculiar for each of the above sets. The other eight kinds of pain were common to the high- and low-current stimulations. Perceived intensities of the eight pains, however, differed between the high- and low-currents stimulations. It was assumed that the very same eight pains were perceived at different intensities depending upon the two sets of stimulus context.