The effects of distraction on responses to cold pressor pain

Subjective pain ratings and tolerance time were obtained during 2 cold pressor immersions for 3 groups of subjects. During the second immersion 1 group performed no task and the other 2 groups performed either an easy or difficult mental arithmetic task. The sensory-discriminative response to pain was measured by pain ratings. Pain ratings were collected every minute until subjects removed their arm from the cold pressor or until 4 min passed. Relative to a baseline cold pressor immersion, subjects in both the distraction conditions reduced their 1 min pain ratings more than control subjects. This effect was weaker at the 2 min pain rating and absent at the later ratings. The affective-reactive response to pain was measured by pain tolerance times. Tolerance time was defined as the time when subjects removed their arm from the cold pressor. Tolerance time was not altered by the distraction tasks. These findings suggest that affectively neutral distraction alters the sensory but not the reactive response to pain. Clinical implications are discussed.