The Effects of Perceived Hand Size on Thermal Pain Perception (2016)

Undergraduate: Mary Whatley

Faculty Advisor: Mark Hollins
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Pain serves an important role in our lives, but the pain we experience is not always accurately representative of the stimulus causing the pain. Many cognitive factors influence the way we perceive pain, including vision. By changing the visual size of the hand while administering a thermal pain stimulus, we attempt to examine the analgesic effects of visual input on pain perception. Based on prior hypotheses regarding multiple body systems and bodily control, we hypothesize that generally, the larger the hand looks, the more in control of the body one will feel, leading to less perceived pain. If this hypothesis holds true or if there is a different pattern of analgesia, we could conclude that changing the visual size of the body may give rise to non-pharmacological treatments for acute pain. If we find that changing the size of the body does not have a significant effect on pain perception, it would suggest the need for more research in this area to support or disprove current research and to unearth other cognitive processes that may be occurring.