The Cold Pressor Test and Autonomic Function: A Review and Integration
Abstract
ABSTRACT The purpose of the present paper is to review the literature on the cold pressor test and to discuss the ways in which these investigations have pointed toward a model of homeostatic function. The research employing the cold pressor test includes studies of psychosomatic illness, factors influencing autonomic response in stress, the relationship between psychological disorder and autonomic responsivity, as well as studies of cortical influences on autonomic function, and the relationship between stress and task performance. From these studies, several parameters of a potential model of homoeostasis are selected and discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of autonomic balance and initial values in influencing autonomic response to stress.
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The fundamental memory field gives preference to validated stressors such as CPT, TSST, and MAST.
“The fundamental memory fi eld gives preference to validated stressors such as laboratory-based tasks that have been developed to reliably increase physiological and subjective stress. Two of the most prominent laboratory-based stressors to elicit autonomic and HPA axis arousal and stress include the Cold Pressor Test (CPT; Lovallo, 1975), in which participants immerse their hands in ice water, and”
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- Authors
- Lovallo, W.
- Affiliations
- University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lovallo, William
- ORCID
- Lovallo, William
- Venue
- Psychophysiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1975-05
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 268-282
- ISSN
- 0048-5772 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8986
- OpenAlex
- W2054287930
- Cited by
- 409
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 1.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychophysiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Keywords
- cold pressor test, autonomic function, homeostasis, psychosomatic disorders, stress response, mental illness, sympathovagal balance
- MeSH terms
- Arousal, Arteries, Autonomic Nervous System, Mental Disorders, Blood Pressure, Cerebral Cortex, Cold Temperature, Tectum Mesencephali, Heart Rate, Homeostasis, Humans, Models, Psychological, Pain, Psychophysiologic Disorders, Psychophysiology, Reticular Formation, Stress, Physiological, Task Performance and Analysis, Telencephalon
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