The dynamics of pain perception in conditions of purposive activity

Pain threshold sensitivity determination and recording of somatosensory evoked potentials in response to electrical skin stimulation were used to study the dynamics of pain sensitivity in medical students in mid-semester before blood donor and examination procedures and in the post-procedure period during performance of an editing test. Increases in pain sensitivity thresholds were seen in all subjects during the examination period and on performance of the editing test. Differences in changes in evoked potential amplitudes were found, depending on the individual-typological characteristics of the nervous system and the quality of motivationally determined states. Subjects with different individual-typological characteristics had different subjective pain sensation dynamics in test conditions.