Neurophysiological Differences in Pain Reactivity: Why Some People are Tolerant to Pain

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dc.contributor.authorDaugherty, Susan AtLeeen
dc.contributor.committeecochairBell, Martha Annen
dc.contributor.committeecochairHorton, James E.en
dc.contributor.committeememberHarrison, David W.en
dc.contributor.committeememberDenbow, D. Michaelen
dc.contributor.departmentPsychologyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:16:26Zen
dc.date.adate2005-10-11en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:16:26Zen
dc.date.issued2005-09-14en
dc.date.rdate2006-10-11en
dc.date.sdate2005-09-19en
dc.description.abstractPain is a complex, ubiquitous phenomenon that can be debilitating and costly. Although it is well known that some individuals can easily tolerate pain while others are more intolerant to pain, little is known of the neurophysiological bases of these differences. Because differences in sensory information processing may underlie variability in tolerance to pain and because measures of sensory gating are used to explore differences in sensory information processing, sensory gating among college students (N = 14) who are tolerant or intolerant to pain was investigated. This investigation explored the hypothesis that those who were more tolerant to pain would evidence greater sensory gating. Pain tolerance was first determined using a cold pressor task. Sensory gating was then determined by the amount of attenuation of the amplitude of a second painful, electrical, somatosensory stimulus (S2) in relation to the amplitude of an identical first stimulus (S1) in a paired-stimulus evoked potential (EP ) paradigm. The results obtained showed the intolerant group exhibiting greater physiological reactivity than the tolerant group, indicating that the tolerant group attained greater sensory gating than the intolerant group.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.identifier.otheretd-09192005-214943en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-09192005-214943/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/29025en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartsusandaughertydissertation.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectFrontal Lobesen
dc.subjectSEPen
dc.subjectPain Toleranceen
dc.subjectPaired Stimulusen
dc.subjectSensory Gatingen
dc.titleNeurophysiological Differences in Pain Reactivity: Why Some People are Tolerant to Painen
dc.typeDissertationen
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

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