By Tarun Sai LomteOct 31 2023Reviewed by James Ducker In a study published in Frontiers in Pain Research, researchers showed that emotional responses to relaxing and favorite music predict hypoalgesia.
About the study Sixty-three healthy individuals, aged 21.3, on average, participated in this study. A thermal contact probe was used to induce painful thermal stimuli on the inner forearm surface. Participants rated the unpleasantness and intensity of the pain after each stimulation. Likewise, they indicated the number of chills, frissons, or thrills, emotional arousal, and pleasantness of the music. Participants were asked questions about their favorite songs/music at the end of the session. A thematic content analysis was performed to examine whether the absence or presence of specific themes moderated the effects of favorite music on pain ratings.
The team performed mediation analyses to test whether emotion could explain the difference in effect between relaxing and favorite music. They observed a significant indirect effect on pain intensity and unpleasantness through chills. However, there was no significant effect of music pleasantness on pain unpleasantness. Theme analysis revealed 17 themes centered on listening time , activities , emotion , musical aspects , or associations .