抄録
The relationship between thermal imagery and thresholds of a pain response was explored by recording reaction time as a measure of the pain threshold, as well as digital pulse volume and heartbeats, on twenty female undergraduates. While a pain stimulus was being presented, subjects in the experimental group were asked to form the same image in their mind as the sensation produced by one of four image cues given beforehand. Two of the image cues were compatible with the stimulus, i. e., radiant heat, and the others incompatible. The present study showed that, as the cues were changed from “hot” to“ice-cold”, the thresholds were gradually elevated. Besides, the enhancement of the threshold was found even in the post-test block. The data obtained on finger pulse volume, however, differed from those on the thresholds, that the imagination in the test block had no effect on the pulse volume in the post-test period. It is suggested that the incompatible images play a part to decrease pain sensitivity, and that the enhanced threshold is probably related to the thermal imagery per se rather than to the peripheral skin temperature inferred from the vasomotor measure.
