Meaning affects our pain experience

Meaning affects our pain experience

Lorimer MoseleyNHMRC Senior Research FellowPrince of Wales Medical Research Institute & School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Team leaderThe GAMFI projectUniversity of Oxford, UK

Los Angeles, June 2009

© GL Moseley www.BodyInMind.com.au

The context of a noxious Stimulus affects the pain it evokesPain 133, 1-3 64-71

© GL Moseley www.BodyInMind.com.au

© GL Moseley www.BodyInMind.com.au

Manipulated meaning of nociceptive stimulus

-20ºC probe

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Manipulated meaning of nociceptive stimulus - HOT

-20ºC probe “hot”

© GL Moseley www.BodyInMind.com.au

Manipulated meaning of nociceptive stimulus - COLD

-20ºC probe “cold”

© GL Moseley www.BodyInMind.com.au

Very cold (-20ºC) stimulus associated with a red or a blue light

0

5

10

Red light

Blue light

Pain

Moseley & Arntz 2007 PAIN In press© GL Moseley

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© GL Moseley www.BodyInMind.com.au

Visual clues that imply more or less danger change the pain evoked by identical stimuli

© GL Moseley www.BodyInMind.com.au