This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mailloux, J. Articles by Brener, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Mailloux, J. Articles by Brener, J. Related Collections Personality Somatoform Other Cardiovascular Medicine

Somatosensory Amplification and Its Relationship to Heartbeat Detection Ability

From the Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY.

Address reprint requests to: Jennifer Mailloux, The John B. Pierce Laboratory, 290 Congress Ave., New Haven, CT 06519. Email: jmailloux{at}jbpierce.org

OBJECTIVE: Somatosensory amplification has been defined as the tendency to experience normal bodily sensations as intense, noxious, and disturbing. The present experiment investigated whether this tendency is due to heightened physiological sensitivity to bodily sensations.

METHODS: The relationship between Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS) scores and objective measures of the ability to detect bodily (ie, heartbeat) sensations derived from the Method of Constant Stimuli procedure was assessed. Although somatosensory amplification characterizes hypochondriacs, the relationship between somatosensory amplification and sensitivity to bodily sensations was examined in nonhypochondriacal, nonpatient participants in an effort to dissociate somatosensory amplification from other variables associated with hypochondriasis and/or patient status.

RESULTS: Heartbeat detectors were found to exhibit significantly lower SSAS scores than nondetectors.

CONCLUSION: This finding suggests that somatosensory amplification is not due to heightened sensitivity to bodily sensations.

Key Words: somatosensory amplification • heartbeat detection • hypochondriasis

Abbreviations: ANOVA = analysis of variance;; ECG = electrocardiogram;; MCS = Method of Constant Stimuli;; SSAS = Somatosensory Amplification Scale.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Tracy, N. Goyal, A. Flanders, R. Weening, J. Laskas, P. Natale, and B. Waldron Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Analysis of Attention to One's Heartbeat Psychosom Med, November 1, 2007; 69(9): 952 - 960. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]