How a clock can change your pain? The illusion of duration and pain perception

The intensity of experimental pain is known to be dependent on stimulation duration. However, it remains unknown whether this effect arises largely from the actual stimulus duration or is substantially influenced by the subject’s perception of the stimulus duration. In the present study, we questioned this issue by misleading the perception of the duration of pain in a population of 36 healthy volunteers stimulated with a thermode. To this aim, time was signified by a clock with rotating hands in which imperceptible differences in speed rotation had been introduced. Subjects were therefore immersed in 2 comparative conditions in which time was manipulated to provide the illusion of either long or short duration of the painful stimulus. In a first condition (“full-length” clock), participants were instructed that pain would last for a complete revolution of the clock’s hands, whereas in the second condition (“shortened” clock), revolution was reduced by 25%. Although the intensity and the real duration of stimulation were identical in both conditions, the intensity of pain was significantly reduced when the perception of time was misleadingly shortened by the manipulated clock. This study suggests that the perceived duration of a noxious stimulation may influence the perceived intensity of pain. The perceived duration of the length of a noxious stimulation influences (decreases) the intensity of perceived pain.