TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of disgust on pain sensitivity
AU - Oaten, Megan J.
AU - Stevenson, Richard J.
AU - Case, Trevor I.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Experiencing the emotion of disgust leads to delayed up-regulation of immune-related functions, increased core-body temperature and reduced appetite. These changes parallel those of the acute phase response, which occurs when a pathogen is detected by the immune system. Here we examined whether a further predicted aspect of the acute phase response is evident following disgust induction, namely increased pain sensitivity. Participants attended a two-session experiment. On one session they experienced an emotion induction (being randomly assigned to either disgust, negative or positive groups) and on the other they received a neutral control induction. Before and after each induction, and at 15 and 30. min post-induction, participants engaged in a cold-pressor task, rating pain intensity at 10. s intervals for 90. s on each occasion. Relative to neutral control and pre-test, average pain intensity decreased then increased across time following the disgust induction, with the reverse pattern in the negative and positive emotion inductions. These findings are the first to suggest that disgust may lead to an increase in pain sensitivity over a time course paralleling changes observed for core-body temperature and immune-related function, although the mechanisms underpinning these effects remain to be identified.
AB - Experiencing the emotion of disgust leads to delayed up-regulation of immune-related functions, increased core-body temperature and reduced appetite. These changes parallel those of the acute phase response, which occurs when a pathogen is detected by the immune system. Here we examined whether a further predicted aspect of the acute phase response is evident following disgust induction, namely increased pain sensitivity. Participants attended a two-session experiment. On one session they experienced an emotion induction (being randomly assigned to either disgust, negative or positive groups) and on the other they received a neutral control induction. Before and after each induction, and at 15 and 30. min post-induction, participants engaged in a cold-pressor task, rating pain intensity at 10. s intervals for 90. s on each occasion. Relative to neutral control and pre-test, average pain intensity decreased then increased across time following the disgust induction, with the reverse pattern in the negative and positive emotion inductions. These findings are the first to suggest that disgust may lead to an increase in pain sensitivity over a time course paralleling changes observed for core-body temperature and immune-related function, although the mechanisms underpinning these effects remain to be identified.
KW - disgust
KW - pain
KW - emotion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84909630853&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.10.023
DO - 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.10.023
M3 - Article
C2 - 25447331
AN - SCOPUS:84909630853
SN - 0031-9384
VL - 138
SP - 107
EP - 112
JO - Physiology and Behavior
JF - Physiology and Behavior
ER -