AbstractsPsychology

The idea that there exists a describable stimulus or class of stimuli which invariably and predictably produce pain has been challenged repeatedly. Similarly, the "traditional" notion that there is a one to one relation between tissue damage (or any other specifiable stimulus) and pain response has been vigorously opposed (Livingston, 1943, 1953; Beecher, 1959 Melzack, 1961; Melzack & Wall, 1962). However, the concept of a physically describable, and thus measurable, pain producing stimulus plays an essential role in the study of pain perception. The fact that some stimuli which often produce pain do, under specifiable conditions, fail to produce pain permits the study of conditions which alter the effectiveness of pain stimuli. [...]