Prior expectation in painful situationsmakes thepain experiencemove more towards this expectation. However, in life we do not always receivepreciseindications of the upcoming pain,leadingtofeelings...Show morePrior expectation in painful situationsmakes thepain experiencemove more towards this expectation. However, in life we do not always receivepreciseindications of the upcoming pain,leadingtofeelings ofuncertainty. Therefore research is needed to investigate the effect of uncertainty in painful situations.In this thesis we exploredthe effect of preciseoverpredictions ofpaincompared to imprecise overpredictions of pain.We expectedthat precise overpredictionsresult in a higher pain rating than imprecise overpredictions. We also investigatedthe effect of trait anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty on theeffects of these imprecisecues, since worrying and rumination might result in catastrophizing. Allhealthy23 participants included in this within-subject weretested by showingthemimprecise and precisepain indications, which were calledcues. After this,moderatelypainfulelectrical stimuli were applied,whichthe participant was asked to rate.No significant effect wasfound on the pain experience of the participant when comparing precise and imprecise overpredictions. Also,trait anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty did notshow a significant moderation effecton the pain experience in face of uncertain overpredictions.We concluded that precise andimprecise overpredictions ofpain do not show a differenceinthe amount of pain experienced. Furthermore, trait anxiety and the level of intolerance of uncertainty do not make peoplescoring high on these scalesexperience more pain in uncertain situationscompared to people who do not score high.Show less
Pain is an unpleasant subjective experience that can be influenced by various factors. One of the important determinants of the feeling of pain is how much pain one expects to feel. Usually,...Show morePain is an unpleasant subjective experience that can be influenced by various factors. One of the important determinants of the feeling of pain is how much pain one expects to feel. Usually, expecting higher pain would result in experiencing pain as more intense than it is. A factor that might interact with pain expectancies is somatic focus - how one perceives changes in the body. Previous research suggested that somatic focus might vary on a spectrum from maladaptive (hypervigilant anxious-driven) to adaptive (mindful), and that might interact with how one would perceive overpredicted pain. This within-subject study investigated how correctly predicted, as well as mildly and strongly overpredicted painful electrical stimuli of moderate intensity were rated by a healthy sample of 30 people. Their responses on the MAIA-2, scale were used to assess the adaptiveness of somatic focus. We expected that those who had a more adaptive style of somatic focus would give more accurate pain ratings to overpredicted stimuli and will follow an overpredicting pain cue to a lesser extent. Statistical analysis showed that even though the actual intensity of the moderately painful stimuli was the same every time, participants rated all overpredicted stimuli as being more painful than correctly predicted ones. Stimuli that were strongly overpredicted were rated higher than the ones that had mild overprediction. Somatic focus did not affect how much participants followed the cue in their ratings, thus more research is needed to operationalize the concept and see if it truly can be adaptive or maladaptive.Show less
