Psychophysics in the field: Perception and memory for labor pain

Daniel Algom*, Sonia Lubel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Separate groups of women estimated the painfulness of labor contractions either immediately (perceptual judgments) or at time intervals varying from 8 to 48 h after their completion (memorial judgments). The pain judgments of individual uterine contractions were related functionally to the biometrically measured magnitude of these contractions. Perceived and remembered painful sensations were related to referent intensities by power functions governed, as a rule, by exponents greater than unity. Exponents for the memory functions were consistently greater than those for the perceptual functions. Psychophysics done in the field can help decide theoretical issues in addition to providing useful practical information.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)133-141
Number of pages9
JournalAttention, Perception, and Psychophysics
Volume55
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1994
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Psychophysics in the field: Perception and memory for labor pain'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this