Psychological influences on repetition-induced summation of activity-related pain in patients with chronic low back pain.

This study examined the role of pain catastrophizing, fear of movement and depression as determinants of repetition-induced summation of activity-related pain. The sample consisted of 90 (44 women and 46 men) work-disabled individuals with chronic low back pain. Participants were asked to lift a series of 18 canisters that varied according to weight (2.

Contextual determinants of pain judgments.

The objective of this study was to examine the influence of variations in contextual features of a physically demanding lifting task on the judgments of others' pain. Healthy undergraduates (n=98) were asked to estimate the pain experience of chronic pain patients who were filmed while lifting canisters at different distances from their body. Of interest was whether contextual information (i.

Psychological predictors of pain expression and activity intolerance in chronic pain patients.

Recent research suggests that communicative and protective pain behaviors represent functionally distinct subsystems of behavior associated with pain. The present research examined whether components of pain experience such as pain severity, catastrophizing and fear of pain were differentially associated with communicative and protective pain behaviors. It was predicted that pain severity would be associated with decreased physical tolerance and heightened expression of pain behavior.

The influence of communication goals and physical demands on different dimensions of pain behavior.

The purpose of the present research was to examine the influence of communication goals and physical demands on the expression of communicative (e.g., facial grimaces) and protective (e.