A between-subjects investigation of whether distraction is the main mechanism behind music-induced analgesia

Abstract

Music- and distraction-induced pain reduction have been investigated extensively, yet the main mechanism underlying music-induced analgesia remains unknown. In this study, to assess whether music-induced analgesia primarily operates through cognitive modulation, we used the cold pressor task and objectively compared the pain tolerances of participants in a four-group between-subjects design: a music group that listened to a music piece in the absence of any tasks, a music-and-attention-to-music group that listened to the same piece while also rating the arousal levels in the music, a music-and-attention-to-pain group that rated their pain levels while listening to the same piece, and a silence group as control. The group passively exposed to music playback did not show significantly higher pain tolerance compared to the silence group. However, pain tolerances in the music group negatively correlated with participants' self-reported arousal ratings of the music at the end of the experiment. The groups that engaged in an active task - whether evaluating the arousal levels in the music or reporting their experienced pain levels - demonstrated similarly higher pain tolerances compared to the silence group. These findings suggest that engaging in a task, regardless of whether it involves exteroceptive or interoceptive attention, can enhance pain tolerance.