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The effect of pain on involuntary and voluntary capture of attention
Author(s) -
Troche S.J.,
Houlihan M.E.,
Connolly J.F.,
Dick B.D.,
McGrath P.J.,
Finley G.A.,
Stroink G.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
european journal of pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.305
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1532-2149
pISSN - 1090-3801
DOI - 10.1002/ejp.553
Subject(s) - neurophysiology , cognition , event related potential , turnover , psychology , oddball paradigm , audiology , orientation (vector space) , electroencephalography , task (project management) , physical medicine and rehabilitation , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , medicine , geometry , management , mathematics , economics
Background There is converging evidence for the notion that pain affects a broad range of attentional domains. This study investigated the influence of pain on the involuntary capture of attention as indexed by the P 3a component in the event‐related potential derived from the electroencephalogram. Methods Participants performed in an auditory oddball task in a pain‐free and a pain condition during which they submerged a hand in cold water. Novel, infrequent and unexpected auditory stimuli were presented randomly in a series of frequent standard and infrequent target tones. P 3a and P 3b amplitudes were observed to novel, unexpected and target‐related stimuli, respectively. Results Both electrophysiological components were characterized by reduced amplitudes in the pain compared with the pain‐free condition. Hit rate and reaction time to target stimuli did not differ between the two conditions presumably because the experimental task was not difficult enough to exceed attentional capacities under pain conditions. Conclusions These results indicate that voluntary attention serving the maintenance and control of ongoing information processing (reflected by the P 3b amplitude) is impaired by pain. In addition, the involuntary capture of attention and orientation to novel, unexpected information (measured by the P 3a) is also impaired by pain. Thus, neurophysiological measures examined in this study support the theoretical positions proposing that pain can reduce attentional processing capacity. These findings have potentially important implications at the theoretical level for our understanding of the interplay of pain and cognition, and at the therapeutic level for the clinical treatment of individuals experiencing ongoing pain.