A Facilitator in Self-Reported Perception of Physical Symptoms: The Role of Contingency between Physical Symptom and Aversive Event

Abstract

Perceptions of physical symptoms are influenced not only by the passive process of physiological stimuli but also by psychological factors such as the contingency between a physical symptom and an aversive event which we examined here in two experiments. 18 subjects in Exp. 1 and 14 subjects in Exp. 2 performed motor tasks. In the Physical condition, an aversive event was contingent on the physical symptom of ‘racing heart’ in Exp. 1, and on the symptom of ‘overstraining shoulder muscles’ in Exp. 2. In the Motor condition, an aversive event was contingent on the response of the ‘disordered pace of motor tasks’ in both experiments. Self-reported scores on attention to and perception of the physical symptoms under the Physical condition were higher than those under the Motor condition. However, there were no differences in the actual physical responses between the two conditions. These results suggest that a contingency between a physical symptom and an aversive event facilitates attention to and perception of the physical symptom.