Appelhans Bradley M, Luecken Linda J
Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104, United States.
Biol Psychol. 2008 Feb;77(2):174-82. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.10.004. Epub 2007 Oct 12.
Between-person variability in pain sensitivity remains poorly understood. Given a conceptualization of pain as a homeostatic emotion, we hypothesized inverse associations between measures of resting heart rate variability (HRV), an index of autonomic regulation of heart rate that has been linked to emotionality, and sensitivity to subsequently administered thermal pain. Resting electrocardiography was collected, and frequency-domain measures of HRV were derived through spectral analysis. Fifty-nine right-handed participants provided ratings of pain intensity and unpleasantness following exposure to 4 degrees C thermal pain stimulation, and indicated their thresholds for barely noticeable and moderate pain during three exposures to decreasing temperature. Greater low-frequency HRV was associated with lower ratings of 4 degrees C pain unpleasantness and higher thresholds for barely noticeable and moderate pain. High-frequency HRV was unrelated to measures of pain sensitivity. Findings suggest pain sensitivity is influenced by characteristics of a central homeostatic system also involved in emotion.
个体间疼痛敏感性的差异仍未得到充分理解。鉴于将疼痛概念化为一种稳态情绪，我们假设静息心率变异性（HRV）测量值与随后施加的热痛敏感性之间存在负相关，HRV是一种与情绪相关的心率自主调节指标。收集静息心电图，并通过频谱分析得出HRV的频域测量值。59名右利手参与者在暴露于4摄氏度热痛刺激后对疼痛强度和不愉快程度进行评分，并在三次逐渐降温暴露过程中指出他们刚刚能感觉到的疼痛阈值和中度疼痛阈值。低频HRV越高，4摄氏度疼痛不愉快程度评分越低，刚刚能感觉到的疼痛阈值和中度疼痛阈值越高。高频HRV与疼痛敏感性测量值无关。研究结果表明，疼痛敏感性受一个也参与情绪调节的中央稳态系统特征的影响。
