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Question
20.2: Answer
Because subjects differ
in their sensitivity to and suppression of pain both inter-individually
as intra-individually with time in pain, regulatory processes
are best studied by standardizing the experiential response for
all study participants. Using an experiential approach, differences
in regulatory mechanisms among subjects with different trait characteristics
are assessed in the situation of a matched experience of pain,
such as a given level of pain intensity. Pain-sensitive subjects
are those who require a low stimulation rate (blue line) to reach
and maintain a given experiential response (red line). On the
other hand, pain-insensitive subjects are the opposite with respect
to the stimulation rate required.
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20.2 Pain Intensity and Stimulation Rate
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