Effects of the headache state on objective and perceived performance.

The reduced ability to perform tasks is generally reported by those who experience headache. However, in an experimental study, participants reporting onset of headache chose more ambitious tasks than participants remaining headache free. The purpose of this study was to reevaluate the objective ambition of subjects with headache onset, and to determine if perceptions of expended effort and performance accuracy contributed to this seemingly maladaptive behavior.

Muscle tension and physiologic hyperarousal, performance, and state affectivity: assessing the independence of effects in frequent headache and depression.

Anxiety, depression, and frequent headache are closely associated. The comorbidity may be due to selection bias (such as inherent in treatment seeking), shared environmental or genetic factors, or a common underlying process. In this study, comorbidity is considered an alternative explanation for correlates of frequent headache found in earlier work.