Abstract
Multidimensional scaling (ALSCAL) was used to analyze 25 terms that represent pain- producing stimuli, events, or popular clinical labels for pain-associated conditions. The resulting scale is noteworthy in that body parts cluster separately, consistent with a parallel mapping of a homunculus. The scale effectively clustered terms in a way that is interpretable in three dimensions (body location, speed of pain conduction, and body surface). In contrast to other multidimensional scaling analyses of pain terms, this analysis provided more of a perceptual mapping of the pain experience as an environmental property rather than of the qualities of the private event.
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This research was supported in part by Grant GRS-765-PS from the Graduate School of Boston University. We thank Geoffrey Rosenthal and John Houlihan for their assistance. Ralph L. Carasso and Shlomo Yehuda are with the Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. David I. Mostofsky is with the Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215.
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Carasso, R.L., Yehuda, S. & Mostofsky, D.I. Multidimensional scaling of pain experiences. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 22, 349–350 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333839
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333839