[The dynamics of pain perception under conditions of goal-directed activities]

The dynamics of nociception was studied in young male volunteer students with different indices of extraversion and neurotism under conditions of their relative psychoemotional rests and psychoemotional tension induced by academic exams and blood-donation procedures. The averaged somatosensory potentials evoked by threshold electrodermal pain stimuli were recorded in the state of rest and during performance of computer-adapted proof-reading test. In ambivalent, sanguine, choleric, and phlegmatic persons the mean values of nociception thresholds differed between testing situations and rest. Processual motivation diminished pain perception. Characteristics of the evoked responses changed depending on the individual typological properties and motivation-determined states. The dynamics of pain subjective evaluation was different in subjects with different individual typological characteristics.