An experimental investigation of some assumptions underpinning psychological treatments of migraine

Bibliography of Research Utilizing the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire

The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) is receiving increasing use as a self-report measure of mental, visual imagery vividness. This bibliography contains lists of the publications and dissertations which report investigations of experimental, correlational, and factor analytical research. It also includes publications in which research utilizing the VVIQ is reviewed, critiqued, and discussed. The bibliography provides a resource for investigators.

Psychophysiological reactivity in pediatric migraine patients and healthy controls

The hypothesis that physiological responses of migraine patients are symptom-specific was evaluated in 29 children (age range 8-16 years) suffering from migraine and 10 healthy control children. The assessment included two major stress phases and a relaxation period. A standard laboratory stressor (a subtraction task) and parent-child conflict served as stressors. A total of six physiological parameters were measured: pulse amplitude at two extracranial (A. temporalis, A. supraorbitalis) and one peripheral (index finger) sites; finger temperature; heart rate; and skin-conductance level. There were no significant group differences in autonomic arousal. Moreover, extracranial and peripheral vasomotor activity was not different between groups, a finding which might be partially due to the considerable interindividual variability. The implications of the results are discussed taking into account that studying pediatric rather than adult migraine patients allows to minimize the potentially confounding impact of factors such as headache chronicity, medication, and additional nonmigraine headaches.

A critical note on psychophysiological stress research into migraine patients

The psychophysiological stress paradigm has been applied to detect pathways through which stress can induce migraine. We propose that the negative and inconsistent findings of previous studies can be ascribed to the restricted psychophysiological scope of these experiments, to insufficient operationalization of the concepts of stress, and to the lack of attention paid to the presence or absence of an attack after a stressful situation. Our present state of knowledge on the pathophysiology of migraine should form the basis for future psychophysiological research, which should focus on patients who are actually stressed and develop an attack afterwards.

The physiological stress response and the role of cognitive coping in migraine patients and non-headache controls

Our study investigated physiological response specificity and cognitive coping in migrainous patients during an achievement task situation. Thirty-three migrainous subjects and thirty-two non-headache controls were subjected to 40 min of demanding cognitive tasks and 20 min of recovery during which cranial and peripheral vasomotor responses were registered as well as electrodermal and myographic activity. Subjects of both groups were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions, a so-called 'spontaneous processing condition' and the 'positive coping treatment'. In this treatment condition subjects received a short training in the conscious use of positive self-statements in stress situations. Though a specific pattern of cranial vasomotor responses in migraine subjects could be verified by group statistics, this pattern was only found in very few individuals. Reliable differences between groups could not be identified in other physiological variables either. The hypothesis that the predicted cranial vasomotor specificity in migraine subjects correlates with negative cognitive coping habits in migraine subjects best revealed in the 'spontaneous processing' condition, was not corroborated. The treatment variation regarding coping produced somewhat paradoxical effects, more relaxed and positive self-evaluation (subjective level) and more arousal (physiological level). Results are discussed for their impact on the psycho-biological model of migraine.

Abnormal extracranial vasomotor response in migraine sufferers to real-life stress

Temporal and digital pulse amplitudes, forehead temperature, heart rate, respiration rate and electrodermal activity of 37 migraine patients and 37 matched controls from a population of psychology students were recorded during three experimental sessions: adaptation, real-life stress (an examination) and experimental stress (an IQ test). Migraine sufferers showed significantly smaller pulse amplitudes of the temporal artery during the examination than the control group. No group differences were present in the other physiological measures. The findings are interpreted as indirect evidence for the symptom specificity hypothesis, which states that individuals with specific psychosomatic complaints display abnormal responses to stress in the relevant physiological system.

Symptom-specific psychophysiological responses in chronic pain patients

Symptom-specific psychophysiological responding was assessed in 20 chronic back pain patients, 20 patients suffering from temporomandibular pain and dysfunction, and 20 matched healthy controls. Surface EMG from the lower and upper back, the masseter, and the biceps muscles, and heart rate and skin conductance level were continuously recorded during adaptation, resting baseline, and stressful and neutral imagery phases. Univariate and multivariate analyses of variance were performed on raw data as well as data corrected for autocorrelation. The results showed significantly higher EMG reactivity which was lateralized to the left side at the patients' site of pain but not distal sites. This hyperreactivity was observed only during stressful imagery. The healthy controls displayed a significantly higher response in heart rate, but skin conductance level was not significantly different. The results are interpreted as indicative of idiosyncratic muscular response patterns to personally relevant situations at the site of pain in patients suffering from chronic muscular pain.

Psychophysiological mechanisms of chronic headaches: investigation using pain induction and pain reduction procedures

Psychophysiological investigations of tension headaches and migraines have produced inconsistent and inconclusive findings. The study reported here aimed to further explore headache mechanisms by repeating earlier research with two main variations. The first pertained to recording and analytic procedures: a different approach was taken to measuring and interpreting cephalic vascular activity. The second was in the experimental conditions used: pain levels were manipulated so that the psychophysiology of headaches could be studied under conditions of pain increasing and decreasing. The findings provided no support for the role of muscle tension as a headache mechanism. Tentative support was obtained for vascular models of headaches. Headaches were associated with distension of the superficial temporal artery between pressure pulses. The data suggested that local vasomotor activity might play a role in dilating the temporal artery but that the effect seemed driven by elevated blood pressure and heart rate.

The vascular orienting response and the law of initial values

Vascular responses following exposure to the experimental situation (a type orienting reflex) were evaluated in 6 male subjects. Bilateral skin temperature was recorded from the head and finger regions for the duration of the experimental session. The interaction of Location X Trial (p less than or equal to 0.002) showed reliable differences between the head and finger sites and the left and right forehead sites early in the session followed by differential rates of change during the session across sites. The results support the recent claim for the importance of the law of initial values in finger temperature research and extend the findings to multiple site comparisons in the absence of hemispheric task demands. The vascular orienting reflex to the experimental context may augment initial value differences among recording sites.

Bibliography of research utilizing the vividness of visual imagery questionnaire

The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) is receiving increasing use as a self-report measure of mental, visual imagery vividness. This bibliography contains lists of the publications and dissertations which report investigations of experimental, correlational, and factor analytical research. It also includes publications in which research utilizing the VVIQ is reviewed, critiqued, and discussed. The bibliography provides a resource for investigators.

Extracranial and digital vascular events: an analysis of methods in BVP amplitude and biofeedback research

The purpose of the present study was to assess and compare the effects of within and between-session exposure to environmental context on left temporal artery pulse amplitude, right temporal artery pulse amplitude, and left digital pulse amplitude. Subjects were individually tested for 20 min daily over a period of eight consecutive days. A significant interaction was found for Position X Interval. These results show that exposure to the experimental context occurs with diametrically opposite effects on temporalis and digital pulse amplitude within session. Moreover, these results would support the hypothesis that controversial findings within the headache and biofeedback literature may be partially attributable to methodological differences where, for example, different authors use different transducer locations and/or evaluate pulse amplitude at different points within or among sessions. Indeed, research on the effects or lack thereof of therapeutic manipulations may have little or nothing to do with the intervention or experimental manipulations themselves. These effects may be masked or augmented by subject and methodological confounds during baseline and testing conditions.