An important aspect of experimental pain research is that the assessment methods can investigate the different aspects of pain perception. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of rate of temperature change and peak stimulus duration on heat evoked pain intensity and quality. All stimuli were applied within the medial aspect of the anterior forearm. The rate of temperature change was varied from 1 to 16 degrees C/s without any effect on the pain threshold. The pain threshold decreased with an increasing peak stimulus duration from 0.1 to 2 s, but not from 2 to 3 s. The pain intensity for suprathreshold stimuli (46 degrees C, 48 degrees C, 50 degrees C) increased for decreasing rates and increasing duration. The pain intensity was highly correlated with the energy of the stimulus. When the rates of temperature change (1-16 degrees C/s) are varied, no differences between pricking and burning pain were present at either low stimulus intensity (46 degrees C) or high stimulus intensity (50 degrees C). At low stimulus intensity (46 degrees C), the pricking pain was not influenced by the duration (0.1-3 s), but the burning pain was intensified when the duration was increased from 1.5 to 3 s. At high intensity stimuli (50 degrees C), the pricking pain intensified with an increased duration, whereas burning pain did not. The heat pain threshold is influenced by the peak stimulus duration, and not by the rate of temperature change. If suprathreshold stimuli are used, both the rate of temperature change and the peak stimulus duration can strongly affect the pain intensity and the pain quality. Therefore, the same stimulus modality can be used to assess the modulation of different pain intensities and of the pricking and burning pain qualities simply by varying the stimulus configuration.
