A FACILITATOR IN SELF-REPORTED PERCEPTION OF PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS - THE ROLE OF CONTINGENCY BETWEEN PHYSICAL SYMPTOM AND AVERSIVE EVENT

Perceptions of physical symptoms are influenced not only by the pas si ve process of physiological stimuli but also by psychological factors such as the contingency between a physical symptom and an aversive eve nt which we examined here in two experiments. 18 subjects in Exp. 1 an d 14 subjects in Exp. 2 performed motor tasks. In the Physical conditi on, an aversive event was contingent on the physical symptom of 'racin g heart' in Exp. 1, and on the symptom of 'overstraining shoulder musc les' in Exp. 2. In the Motor condition, an aversive event was continge nt on the response of the 'disordered pace of motor tasks' in both exp eriments. Self-reported scores on attention to and perception of the p hysical symptoms under the Physical condition were higher than those u nder the Motor condition. However, there were no differences in the ac tual physical responses between the two conditions. These results sugg est that a contingency between a physical symptom and an aversive even t facilitates attention to and perception of the physical symptom.