Tactile perceptual processes and their relationship to medically unexplained symptoms and health anxiety

Katzer, Anna; Oberfeld, Daniel; Hiller, Wolfgang; Witthöft, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2011.03.009

Cited by 30 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Further research is needed in order to understand the role of hypervigilance in the elicitation of vicarious experiences in healthy controls and chronic pain patients. The results are also not in line with those of Brown et al (2010), who suggested that there might be an interrelation between illusory tactile perceptions and the degree of pseudoneurological symptoms, nor with Katzer et al (2011) who suggested medically unexplained symptoms might be related to touch illusions, because both groups in the present study reported a comparable number of vicarious somatosensory experiences. Some previous studies have demonstrated that patients with FM have a hypersensitivity for mechanical, cold and heat pain perception (Kosek et al, 1996;Smith et al, 2008) and mixed results exist for non-painful sensations such as cold, warm and touch (Desmeules et al, 2003;Klauenberg et al, 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…For example, research has demonstrated that presenting visual information (e.g., a flash of light) may give rise to illusory experiences of touch (Lloyd, Mason, Brown, &Poliakoff, 2008;McKenzie, Poliakoff, Brown, & Lloyd, 2010). In particular, those individuals presenting with a large number of medically unexplained symptoms have been found to experience illusory tactile experiences (see Katzer, Oberfeld, Hiller, &Witthöft, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, it has been demonstrated that simultaneously presenting a brief flash and a threshold-level tactile stimulus increases participants' ability to correctly perceive the tactile stimulus (i.e., increased number of ‗hits'; Lloyd et al, In the present study, a variant of the crossmodal congruency task was used to investigate differences in vicarious somatosensory experiences between fibromyalgia patients (FM) and controls. FM patients were chosen as the clinical group because these patients suffer from medically unexplained symptoms, characterized by chronic widespread pain and central sensitization (see Staud et al, 2008Staud et al, , 2009, which have all been suggested as vulnerability factors in the production of vicarious and illusory sensations (see Fitzgibbon et al, 2010;2012b;Katzer, Oberfeld, Hiller, &Witthöft, 2011). Both groups were presented two categories of videos in which pain -related situations (hands being pricked) or non-pain-related situations (e.g., a sponge being pricked) were shown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fibromyalgia patients and controls are equally accurate in detecting tactile stimuli while observing another in pain: an experimental study

Vandenbroucke

Crombez

Harrar

et al. 2014

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Objective: This study investigated the effects of observing pain in others upon vicarious somatosensory experiences and the detection of somatosensory stimuli in both fibromyalgia patients (FM) and controls. The putative modulatory role of dispositional empathy, hypervigilance to pain, and central sensitization was examined.Methods: FM patients (N=39) and controls (N=38) saw videos depicting pain-related (hands being pricked) and non-pain-related scenes, whilst occasionally experiencing vibrotactile stimuli themselves on the left, right, or both hands. Participants reported the location at which they felt a somatosensory stimulus. Tactile and visual scenes were presented in the same spatial location (congruent, e.g., left-left) or from opposite locations (incongruent, e.g., left-right). We calculated the proportion of correct responses, vicarious somatosensory experiences (i.e., trials on which an illusory somatosensory experience was reported while observing pain-related scenes), and neglect errors (i.e., only reporting the site congruent to the visual painrelated information when both hands had been stimulated).Results: Observing another in pain resulted in an equal numbers of vicarious somatosensory experiences in both groups and facilitated the detection of tactile stimuli, especially during spatially congruent trials.Counter to our expectations, this facilitation was not moderated by group. FM patients made fewer neglect errors. Hypervigilance for pain, dispositional empathy, and central sensitization did not exert a modulatory role.Conclusion: Observing pain facilitates the detection of tactile stimuli in FM patients and controls. Overall, a low incidence of vicarious experiences was observed. Further research is needed to understand the role of attentional body focus in the elicitation of vicarious experiences.

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confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fibromyalgia patients and controls are equally accurate in detecting tactile stimuli while observing another in pain: an experimental study

Vandenbroucke

Crombez

Harrar

et al. 2014

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…Third, we reanalyzed data after excluding participants with an anxiety or an affective disorder, according to our SCID interviews, resulting in two smaller subsamples (N SFD ϭ 16, N CG ϭ 28). Because our previous study (Katzer et al, 2011) had shown that the response bias (c) and the false-alarm rate aggregated across the light-present condition and the light-absent condition correlated with measures of somatoform symptoms, we also analyzed averaged scores of the SSDT parameters, that is, response bias (c), sensitivity (dЈ), false alarms, and tactile sensitivity, each in the light-present and in the light-absent conditions. For all analyses, the significance level was set to p ϭ .05 (two-tailed …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile perceptual processes and their relationship to somatoform disorders.

Katzer

Oberfeld

Hiller

et al. 2012

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

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The Somatic Signal Detection Task (SSDT) is a recent paradigm serving to examine perceptual processes likely relevant for somatoform disorders. We tested whether touch illusions are more easily induced in individuals suffering from somatoform disorders (SFD) and whether their perceptual threshold for tactile stimuli is lower compared to healthy controls. Thirty-three participants with SFD and 32 healthy controls reported whether they recognized near-threshold tactile stimuli at their fingertip, which were presented in half of the test trials. With a probability of 0.5, an auxiliary visual stimulus was additionally presented. Tactile detection thresholds, tactile sensitivity, response bias, and the rate of false-positive perceptions of the tactile stimulus were assessed. In both groups, the light stimulus led to an amelioration of tactile sensitivity as well as to a more liberal response style. The SFD group was characterized by a more liberal response bias in the first half of the light-absent condition compared to the healthy controls. Within the SFD group, the report of somatoform (especially pseudoneurological) symptoms correlated positively with illusory tactile perceptions in the SSDT. Tactile thresholds in the SSDT were measured reliably (r tt ϭ .86) and were significantly lower in the SFD group. The notion that general perceptual dispositions influence the formation of symptom perception may thus complement cognitive models of SFD.Keywords: Somatic Signal Detection Task, somatoform disorders, medically unexplained symptoms, tactile detection threshold, response bias Somatoform symptoms, also called "medically unexplained symptoms" (MUS), are a common phenomenon in primary health care settings (De Waal, Arnold, Eckhof, & van Hemert, 2004). Afflicted persons suffer from bodily complaints that cannot be explained sufficiently by medical conditions. Various models of somatoform disorders (SFD) have been developed, but the precise etiology of MUS and SFD is still unknown (Brown, 2004;Witthöft & Hiller, 2010). Most of the current models assume an interaction of cognitive and perceptual somatosensory processes that lead to behavioral, affective, and biological consequences. Cognitivebehavioral models emphasize factors like catastrophizing, bodyfocused attentional styles, and excessive illness behavior, for example, "doctor shopping," leading in combination to vicious circles that amplify symptom perception (Barsky, Wyshak, & Klerman, 1990;Rief, Hiller, & Margraf, 1998).According to a recently proposed filter model (Rief & Barsky, 2005), the perception of MUS is determined by factors that increase the likelihood of bodily signals (e.g., overarousal, sensitization), on the one hand, and factors that decrease activity of filter systems, on the other hand (e.g., selective attention, lack of distraction). The combination of these two factors could result in the perception of symptoms, which most individuals normally would not experience.Brown (2004) proposed an integrative, conceptual model of MUS focusing on cogniti...

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“…Interestingly, Katzer et al (2012) found that lower tactile perceptual thresholds were associated with fewer symptoms in patients with somatoform disorders on the Somatic Signal Detection Task (SSDT). Other studies found that both somatoform disorders (Katzer et al, 2012) and symptom reporting more generally (Brown et al, 2010Katzer et al, 2011) were associated with a tendency to report sensory experiences on the SSDT regardless of whether stimuli were actually presented (i.e. 'false alarms'), seemingly contradicting the prediction of improved accuracy.…”

Section: Interoceptive Hypervigilance Thresholds and Awarenessmentioning

confidence: 96%

Symptoms and the body: Taking the inferential leap

Bergh

Witthöft

Petersen

et al. 2017

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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a b s t r a c tThe relationship between the conscious experience of physical symptoms and indicators of objective physiological dysfunction is highly variable and depends on characteristics of the person, the context and their interaction. This relationship often breaks down entirely in the case of "medically unexplained" or functional somatic symptoms, violating the basic assumption in medicine that physical symptoms have physiological causes. In this paper, we describe the prevailing theoretical approach to this problem and review the evidence pertaining to it. We then use the framework of predictive coding to propose a new and more comprehensive model of the body-symptom relationship that integrates existing concepts within a unifying framework that addresses many of the shortcomings of current theory. We describe the conditions under which a close correspondence between the experience of symptoms and objective physiology might be expected, and when they are likely to diverge. We conclude by exploring some theoretical and clinical implications of this new account.

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Tactile perceptual processes and their relationship to medically unexplained symptoms and health anxiety

Cited by 30 publications

References 30 publications

Fibromyalgia patients and controls are equally accurate in detecting tactile stimuli while observing another in pain: an experimental study

Fibromyalgia patients and controls are equally accurate in detecting tactile stimuli while observing another in pain: an experimental study

Tactile perceptual processes and their relationship to somatoform disorders.

Symptoms and the body: Taking the inferential leap

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