scholarly journals Social laughter is correlated with an elevated pain threshold

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1731) ◽  
pp. 1161-1167 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. I. M. Dunbar ◽  
Rebecca Baron ◽  
Anna Frangou ◽  
Eiluned Pearce ◽  
Edwin J. C. van Leeuwen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Verbal Communication ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Pain Thresholds ◽  
Stage Performances ◽  
Proximate Explanation

Although laughter forms an important part of human non-verbal communication, it has received rather less attention than it deserves in both the experimental and the observational literatures. Relaxed social (Duchenne) laughter is associated with feelings of wellbeing and heightened affect, a proximate explanation for which might be the release of endorphins. We tested this hypothesis in a series of six experimental studies in both the laboratory (watching videos) and naturalistic contexts (watching stage performances), using change in pain threshold as an assay for endorphin release. The results show that pain thresholds are significantly higher after laughter than in the control condition. This pain-tolerance effect is due to laughter itself and not simply due to a change in positive affect. We suggest that laughter, through an endorphin-mediated opiate effect, may play a crucial role in social bonding.

scholarly journals Religious Rituals Increase Social Bonding and Pain Threshold

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Jane Charles ◽  
Valerie van Mulukom ◽  
Miguel Farias ◽  
Jennifer Brown ◽  
Romara Delmonte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Social Touch ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Brain

The ‘brain-opioid theory of social attachment’ (BOTSA) has been proposed as providing the neurobiological underpinnings of social bonding. Endorphins are activated in the brain by a variety of social activities, including social touch, laughter, singing, dancing and feasting. Several of these seem to be involved in the processes of bonding whole communities by allowing large numbers of individuals to be bonded simultaneously. It has been suggested that religious rituals may also be part of this bonding toolkit. We tested this hypothesis in a series of field studies carried out during religious rituals in the UK and Brazil. We found that taking part in the service increased both pain threshold (a standard proxy for endorphin activation) and positive affect, and that between them these enhanced the sense of bonding to the religious group. The results suggest that one of the key functions of religious ritual may be to increase community bonding.

scholarly journals Use of Pain Threshold Reports to Satisfy Social Needs

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Control Variable ◽  
Cold Pressor ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Anxious Attachment ◽  
Pain Thresholds ◽  
High Baseline

OBJECTIVE: To examine the hypothesis that experimental threats to social belongingness, interacting with individual differences in attachment security, cause modification of pain threshold reports by individuals who report high pain thresholds at baseline.METHODS: In each of three studies, baseline pain threshold and tolerance were assessed in response to a pain task (cold pressor pain in Studies 1 and 2, finger pressure pain in Study 3). Participants then completed a measure of attachment security and were randomly assigned to a social exclusion or control condition (exclusion from a computer game in Study 1, recalling past rejection experiences in Studies 2 and 3). The pain task was administered again to examine the effects on pain threshold and tolerance.RESULTS: Those with high anxious attachment and high baseline pain thresholds reported higher postmanipulation pain thresholds in the exclusion conditions than in the control conditions. Those with low anxious attachment and high baseline pain thresholds reported lower postmanipulation pain thresholds in the exclusion conditions than in the control conditions. No differences were found for pain tolerance.CONCLUSIONS: Across studies, results suggested that postmanipulation pain threshold reports of individuals with high baseline pain thresholds were particularly responsive to social exclusion. The form of the response was dependent on the level of anxious attachment. The present studies provide evidence that variance in pain threshold reports not accounted for by pain intensity may reflect the use of pain reports to satisfy social needs. This work also suggests that baseline measures of pain thresholds may, in interaction with psychological variables, have predictive power beyond serving as a control variable.

scholarly journals Sweet taste does not modulate pain perception in adult humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R Mooney ◽  
Alexander J Davies ◽  
Anthony E Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Animal Studies ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Specific Effect ◽  
Sweet Taste ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Heat Pain ◽  
Pain Thresholds ◽  
Heat Pain Threshold ◽  
Adult Humans

Background: Sugar is routinely used to comfort neonates undergoing painful procedures, and animal studies have shown that sucrose increases the time to withdrawal from painful stimuli. However, there are no published studies examining the effects of sweet substances on heat pain thresholds and percept in adult humans. Methods: Healthy adult volunteers (n=27, aged 18-48 years) were recruited to a controlled, double-blind, randomised, cross-over study to characterise the effect of tasting solutions of equivalent sweetness (10% sucrose and 0.016% sucralose) on warm detection and heat pain thresholds and the percept ratings of painfully hot stimuli. The effect of anticipation of a sweet taste on heat pain threshold was also assessed. Results: Tasting either sucrose or sucralose had no significant effect on the percept of an individually titrated hot stimulus (54.5±4.2 and 54.9±3.2 vs 53.2±3.5 for water, 0-100 visual analogue scale), on the warm detection or heat pain threshold (43.3±0.8, 43.2±0.8 vs 43.0±0.8°C). Anticipation of a sweet substance similarly did not affect heat pain thresholds. Conclusions: Sucrose and sucralose solutions had no analgesic effect when assessed using heat detection thresholds and percept ratings of painfully hot stimuli despite being perceived as sweeter and more pleasant than water. These findings are in contrast to results reported from previous animal studies in which thermal analgesia from sweet solutions is robust. Given the ubiquitous availability of sugar rich drinks in the modern environment, the lack of observable effect may be due to an insufficient hedonic value of the test solutions when compared to the experience of a laboratory rodent. Alternatively, sweet tastes may have a specific effect on pain tolerance rather than the threshold and acute percept measures assayed in this study.

scholarly journals Rowers' high: behavioural synchrony is correlated with elevated pain thresholds

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma E. A. Cohen ◽  
Robin Ejsmond-Frey ◽  
Nicola Knight ◽  
R. I. M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Pain Thresholds ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Music Making

Physical exercise is known to stimulate the release of endorphins, creating a mild sense of euphoria that has rewarding properties. Using pain tolerance (a conventional non-invasive assay for endorphin release), we show that synchronized training in a college rowing crew creates a heightened endorphin surge compared with a similar training regime carried out alone. This heightened effect from synchronized activity may explain the sense of euphoria experienced during other social activities (such as laughter, music-making and dancing) that are involved in social bonding in humans and possibly other vertebrates.

scholarly journals Emotional arousal when watching drama increases pain threshold and social bonding

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 160288 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. I. M. Dunbar ◽  
Ben Teasdale ◽  
Jackie Thompson ◽  
Felix Budelmann ◽  
Sophie Duncan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Pain Thresholds ◽  
Anthropoid Primate

Fiction, whether in the form of storytelling or plays, has a particular attraction for us: we repeatedly return to it and are willing to invest money and time in doing so. Why this is so is an evolutionary enigma that has been surprisingly underexplored. We hypothesize that emotionally arousing drama, in particular, triggers the same neurobiological mechanism (the endorphin system, reflected in increased pain thresholds) that underpins anthropoid primate and human social bonding. We show that, compared to subjects who watch an emotionally neutral film, subjects who watch an emotionally arousing film have increased pain thresholds and an increased sense of group bonding.

scholarly journals Sweet taste does not modulate pain perception in adult humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R Mooney ◽  
Alexander J Davies ◽  
Anthony E Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Animal Studies ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Specific Effect ◽  
Sweet Taste ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Heat Pain ◽  
Pain Thresholds ◽  
Heat Pain Threshold ◽  
Adult Humans

Background: It is commonly observed that humans who are in pain or discomfort seek solace in the form of sweet foods and drinks. Sugar is routinely used to comfort neonates undergoing painful procedures, and animal studies have shown that sucrose increases the time to withdrawal from painful stimuli. However, there are no published studies examining the effects of sweet substances on heat pain thresholds and percept in adult humans. Methods: Healthy adult volunteers (n=27, aged 18-48 years) were recruited to a controlled, double-blind, randomised, cross-over study to characterise the effect of tasting solutions of equivalent sweetness (10% sucrose and 0.016% sucralose) on warm detection and heat pain thresholds and the percept ratings of painfully hot stimuli. The effect of anticipation of a sweet taste on heat pain threshold was also assessed. Results: Tasting either sucrose or sucralose had no significant effect on the percept of an individually titrated hot stimulus (54.5±4.2 and 54.9±3.2 vs 53.2±3.5 for water, 0-100 visual analogue scale), on the warm detection or heat pain threshold (43.3±0.8, 43.2±0.8 vs 43.0±0.8°C). Anticipation of a sweet substance similarly did not affect heat pain thresholds. Conclusions: Sucrose and sucralose solutions had no analgesic effect when assessed using heat detection thresholds and percept ratings of painfully hot stimuli despite being perceived as sweeter and more pleasant than water. These findings are in contrast to results reported from previous animal studies in which thermal analgesia from sweet solutions is robust. Given the ubiquitous availability of sugar rich drinks in the modern environment, the lack of observable effect may be due to an insufficient hedonic value of the test solutions when compared to the experience of a laboratory rodent. Alternatively, sweet tastes may have a specific effect on pain tolerance rather than the threshold and acute percept measures assayed in this study.

Efficacy of prayer in inducing immediate physiological changes: a systematic analysis of objective experiments

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Chin ◽  
Ryan Chou ◽  
Muhammad Waqas ◽  
Kunal Vakharia ◽  
Hamid Rai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physiological State ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Peripheral Resistance ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Physiological Status ◽  
Physiological Changes ◽  
Mental Functioning ◽  
Baroreceptor Sensitivity ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Blood Marker

Abstract Objectives To assess the immediate impact of prayer on physiological state by systematically reviewing objective, controlled experimental studies in the literature. Content Experimental studies measuring objective physiological changes induced by prayer. Studies containing the keyword, “Prayer” anywhere in the title or abstract were curated from the following databases: Public/Publisher Medline (PubMed), Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE) and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) in May 2019. Titles and abstracts were screened with the remaining 30 articles analyzed for inclusion. Only experimental studies were included. Summary Eight experimental studies were identified of which five investigated neurocognitive changes and three investigated systemic physiological changes during prayer. The five studies focusing on neuroactivity used functional MRI (fMRI), electroencephalography or SPECT imaging to obtain measurements. The remaining three studies analyzed an array of systemic physiological metrics, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, peripheral resistance, baroreceptor sensitivity and/or cardiovascular rhythm variability during prayer. All studies aside from one saw objective changes during prayer. Neurocognitive changes were mainly associated with improved mental functioning, control and pain tolerance. Prayer was found to slow down physiological functions in two of the three vital-based studies, with the third reporting no change in physiological status. None of the studies measured blood marker changes. Outlook Experimental studies show prayer to induce healthy neurocognitive and physiological changes. Additional studies exploring objective measures from prayer are encouraged to provide practitioners with a more nuanced, scientific perspective when it comes to prescribing prayer as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy.

The association between selected genetic variants and individual differences in experimental pain

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Udnesseter Lie ◽  
Bendik Winsvold ◽  
Johannes Gjerstad ◽  
Dagfinn Matre ◽  
Linda M. Pedersen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Experimental Pain ◽  
Pain Tolerance ◽  
Heat Pain ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Secondary Hyperalgesia ◽  
Heat Pain Threshold ◽  
Pain Patients

AbstractObjectivesThe underlying mechanisms for individual differences in experimental pain are not fully understood, but genetic susceptibility is hypothesized to explain some of these differences. In the present study we focus on three genetic variants important for modulating experimental pain related to serotonin (SLC6A4 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 A>G), catecholamine (COMT rs4680 Val158Met) and opioid (OPRM1 rs1799971 A118G) signaling. We aimed to investigate associations between each of the selected genetic variants and individual differences in experimental pain.MethodsIn total 356 subjects (232 low back pain patients and 124 healthy volunteers) were genotyped and assessed with tests of heat pain threshold, pressure pain thresholds, heat pain tolerance, conditioned pain modulation (CPM), offset analgesia, temporal summation and secondary hyperalgesia. Low back pain patients and healthy volunteers did not differ in regards to experimental test results or allelic frequencies, and were therefore analyzed as one group. The associations were tested using analysis of variance and the Kruskal-Wallis test.ResultsNo significant associations were observed between the genetic variants (SLC6A4 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 A>G, COMT rs4680 Val158Met and OPRM1 rs1799971 A118G) and individual differences in experimental pain (heat pain threshold, pressure pain threshold, heat pain tolerance, CPM, offset analgesia, temporal summation and secondary hyperalgesia).ConclusionsThe selected pain-associated genetic variants were not associated with individual differences in experimental pain. Genetic variants well known for playing central roles in pain perception failed to explain individual differences in experimental pain in 356 subjects. The finding is an important contribution to the literature, which often consists of studies with lower sample size and one or few experimental pain assessments.

An Examination by Forearm EMG on Pain Reaction Time to Radiant Heat

1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1139-1146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiteru Hatayama ◽  
Kayoko Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Time Delay ◽  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Motor Response ◽  
Pain Threshold ◽  
Radiant Heat ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Pain Sensation ◽  
Pain Thresholds ◽  
Pain Reaction

The present study was done to estimate rise in skin temperature during a pain reaction time (pain RT) as a means of investigating why a pricking pain threshold, produced by thermal stimulation using time method, often increases during repeated measurements. The pain RT, or the time-delay between occurrence of pain sensation and a subsequent motor response, was measured by making EMG recording on a forearm. The radiant heat stimuli were three, 200, 300, and 350 mcal/sec./cm2, each of which was given through a round radiation window of an algesiometer head. Analysis showed that the pain RTs would be too short to explain higher pain thresholds often found using the time method.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document