Cognitive and physiological feedback on cold pain tolerance

Results supported the relevancy of cognitive information effects on pain tolerance, in that subjects who were given a rational and accurate explanation of what to expect showed greater tolerance than those who received irrelevant information. Accurate monitoring of hand temperature did not seem necessarily advantagous as an influence on pain tolerance. It appears merely watching a monitor, regardless of the specific contents of the screen, resulted in longer hand immersion times when compared to no monitor. The monitors seem to serve as distractors and specificity of physiological information was not particularly useful. However, neither information nor physiological monitoring emerged as the primary influence on pain tolerance in this study. Instead, the strongest predictors found were motivation and self-efficacy. The subject's own self prediction of anticipated performance with cold induced pain was closely consistent with actual performance. Although these results alone may not generalize to extended field situations, this study does reinforce the general findings of previous research: namely Bandura's (10) evidence on self-efficacy. While it is obvious cold temperatures have measurable physiological consequences, the experience of pain is also psychologically mediated. Pain associated with cold injury and frostbite in hospital studies show personality correlates are significantly related to the frequency, severity and tragedy of subsequent results (15). A replication of this study will include male subjects even though it is anticipated that findings will be consistent, with perhaps longer immersion times. Future research may want to develop training strategies aimed at teaching self-efficacy and realistic expectations of potential consequences in cold environments rather than scare tactics regarding physiological and psychological cold pain tolerance.