Sub-optimal presentation of painful facial expressions enhances readiness for action and pain perception following electrocutaneous stimulation.

ABSTRACT: Observation of others' painful facial expressions has been shown to facilitate behavioral response tendencies and to increase pain perception in the observer. However, in previous studies, expressions were clearly visible to the observer and none of those studies investigated the effect of presence of peripheral stimulation on response tendencies. This study focuses on the effect of sub-optimal presentation of painful facial expressions in the presence and absence of an electrocutaneous stimulus. Twenty-two healthy individuals categorized arrow targets which were preceded by a sub-optimally presented facial expression (painful, happy, or neutral in different blocks). On half of the trials, aversive electrocutaneous stimulation was delivered to the wrist of the non-dominant hand between the

SUBMITTER: Khatibi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4493322 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature