Responsiveness to laboratory pain in women as a function of age and childbirth pain experience

Pain responsiveness was investigated experimentally as a function of age and childbirth pain experience. Sensitivity to cold pressor-induced pain was assessed through threshold, tolerance, and visual analog pain ratings. It was hypothesized that childbirth pain experience would mostly modify experimental pain judgment, in accordance with the adaptation-levels model. That is, childbirth pain would be used as an "anchor" in evaluating other …