Two experiments were conducted to determine whether attention mediates the effects of
affective distractors on cold pressor pain, or whether the cognitive processes of priming and
appraisal best account for the effects. In Experiment I, 65 male respondents were exposed to
either pleasant, neutral or unpleasant pictures selected from the International Affective
Pictures System (IAPS). The cold-pressor test was administered simultaneously. Consistent
with predictions based on priming and appraisal hypotheses, results revealed a linear trend …