Amy D. Clegg

Abstract

Using Bower’s (1981) associative network model of mood and memory, and Klinger’s theory of current concerns, it was hypothesized that the experience of chronic pain may be functionally similar to a mood state and that the chronicity of the condition may maintain it as a current concern. Specifically, it was hypothesized that chronic pain patients would not show any differences in reaction time and accuracy when making lexical decisions about pain-related, neutral, and nonwords. However, it was anticipated that chronic pain patients would show differences in physiological responding (particularly, increased skin conductance responses) when compared to controls. Results confirmed that there were no differences between chronic pain patients and control subjects on reaction time and accuracy. Physiological indices, on the other hand, showed that chronic pain patients exhibited diminished skin conductance response magnitudes overall when compared with controls. Moreover, unlike controls, chronic pain patients failed to show an acceleratory heart rate response at the end of the trials. Word type was not observed to produce differences in psychophysiological responding. These results are interpreted as suggesting the possibility of diminished attentional resource allocation in those individuals suffering from chronic pain

LLU Discipline

Psychology

Department

Psychology

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

Jay L. Brand

Second Advisor

Paul Haerich

Third Advisor

Kiti Freier

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Level

M.A.

Year Degree Awarded

1998

Date (Title Page)

3-1998

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Pain (Psychology); Pain (Physiology); Pain Measurement.

Type

Thesis

Page Count

vi; 34

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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