Abnormal extracranial vasomotor response in migraine sufferers to real-life stress

Temporal and digital pulse amplitudes, forehead temperature, heart rate, respiration rate and electrodermal activity of 37 migraine patients and 37 matched controls from a population of psychology students were recorded during three experimental sessions: adaptation, real-life stress (an examination) and experimental stress (an IQ test). Migraine sufferers showed significantly smaller pulse amplitudes of the temporal artery during the examination than the control group. No group differences were present in the other physiological measures. The findings are interpreted as indirect evidence for the symptom specificity hypothesis, which states that individuals with specific psychosomatic complaints display abnormal responses to stress in the relevant physiological system.