Experience of Peripheral Temperature Change During Hypnotic Analgesia

Abstract

Many Ss who experience hypnotic analgesia in a portion of their body often report that it is accompanied by sensations of coldness in the affected area. Experiments were conducted to determine if such reports are the result of a physical change in peripheral temperature or are due to psychological factors. When analgesia was induced in a limb or in the back of the neck, a concomitant physical change in temperature was not observed. Ss did report experiencing coldness, however, in the affected body part. Such experiences were attributed to associations that Ss developed between numbness or analgesia and a drop in peripheral temperature. As a result, coldness as an associate of hypnotic analgesia is suggested as a manipulation check for the presence of such sensation reduction.