Abstract

Abstract
Pain is a highly subjective phenomenon that depends on multiple factors. The common methods used to evaluate pain require the person to be awakened and cooperative, which may not always be possible. Moreover, such methods are subject to non-quantifiable influences, namely the impact of an individual’s emotional state on how pain is perceived or how negative emotions may exacerbate pain perception, while positive emotions may attenuate it. The goal of this study was to conduct a novel protocol for pain induction with emotional elicitation and assess its feasibility. In this protocol, the physiological responses were monitored, and collected, through Electrocardiogram, Electrodermal Activity, and surface Electromyogram signals. Along the protocol, the pain perception was evaluated using a 0–10 numerical rating scale and by registering the time from the pain stimulus beginning to the Pain and Tolerance Thresholds. This study comprised three emotional sessions, negative, positive, and neutral, which were performed through videos of excerpts of terror, comedy, and documentary films, respectively, followed by pain induction using the Cold Pressor Task (CPT). A total of 56 participants performed the study, with a CPT mean time of about 91.70 ± 39.64 s among all the sessions. The conducted protocol was considered feasible and safe as it allowed the collection of physiological data, pain, and questionnaires’ reports from 56 participants, without any harm to them. Moreover, the collected data can be further used to assess how emotional conditions influence pain perception and to provide better emotion-calibrated pain recognition systems based on physiological signals. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract