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Effects of Pain on Motor Performance
Bottom W Brewer1, Judy L Van Raalte1, Darwyn E Linder1
11 Arizona State University.
Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology
|August 11, 2017
Summary
Experimentally induced pressure pain did not impact weight lifting but hindered simple golf putting and severely impaired complex putting. This suggests pain, like arousal, affects performance based on task complexity.
Area of Science:
- Sports science
- Pain research
- Human performance
Background:
- Pain is a complex sensory and emotional experience.
- The relationship between pain and motor task performance is not fully understood.
- Arousal theory suggests performance varies with arousal levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of experimentally induced pressure pain on different motor tasks.
- To determine if task complexity influences the effect of pain on performance.
- To explore the potential link between pain and arousal in performance modulation.
Main Methods:
- Male college students participated in the study.
- Experimentally induced pressure pain was applied.
- Performance was assessed on a weight lifting task, a simple golf putting task, and a complex golf putting task.
Main Results:
- Pressure pain did not significantly affect weight lifting performance.
- Simple golf putting performance was slightly hampered by pain.
- Complex golf putting performance was severely hampered by pain.
Conclusions:
- The adverse effects of pain on performance increase with task complexity.
- Findings support the theory that pain acts as a form of arousal.
- Pain's effect on performance is analogous to that of arousal, varying with task demands.
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