WHEN SOMATIC INFORMATION THREATENS, CATASTROPHIC THINKING ENHANCES ATTENTIONAL INTERFERENCE

Styles of catastrophic thinking about pain have been related to an ina bility to divert attention away from pain. We investigated whether pai n catastrophizers displayed high attentional interference during a thr eatening low-intensity electrocutaneous stimulus (ES). In Experiment 1 , 44 undergraduates performed a tone discrimination task whilst experi encing several times an ES on the left or right arms. Tones were also presented 250 ms and 750 ms after ES onset. Participants were threaten ed that a high-intensity painful stimulus would occur at one site. As predicted, pain catastrophizers displayed pronounced task interference immediately after threat stimulus onset. In Experiment 2, threat was induced in 36 undergraduates by informing them that an ES excites pain fibres. Again, catastrophizers had marked interference immediately af ter onset. The results are discussed in terms of how catastrophizing a mplifies somatosensory information and primes fear mechanisms. (C) 199 8 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevi er Science B.V.