From the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience and Clinical Psychology, Research Institute of Health Sciences (IUNICS) and Balearic Islands Health Research Institute (IdISBa) (González-Roldán, Terrasa, Sitges, Montoya), University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), Palma, Spain; and Institute for Health and Behaviour, FLSHASE/INSIDE (van der Meulen, Anton), University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
Psychosom Med. 2020 Nov/Dec;82(9):869-876. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000870.
Although it is acknowledged that pain may be modulated by cognitive factors, little is known about the effect of aging on these control processes. The present study investigated electroencephalographical correlates of pain processing and its cognitive modulation in healthy older individuals.
For this purpose, the impact of distraction on pain was evaluated in 21 young (9 men; 20.71 [2.30]) and 20 older (10 men; 66.80 [4.14]) adults. Participants received individually adjusted electrical pain stimuli in a high-distraction condition (one-back task) and in a low-distraction condition (simple letter response task). Pain-related evoked potentials and pain ratings were analyzed.
Both groups rated pain as less intense (F(1,39) = 13.954, p < .001) and less unpleasant (F(1,39) = 10.111, p = .003) when it was experienced during the high- rather than the low-distraction condition. However, in comparison to younger participants, older adults gave higher unpleasantness ratings to painful stimulation (F(1,39) = 4.233, p = .046), accompanied by attenuated neural responses (N1-P1 and P3 amplitudes), regardless of the distraction condition (F(1,38) = 6.028 [p = .019] and F(1,38) = 6.669 [p = .014], respectively).
Older participants felt pain relief through distraction, like younger participants. However, we also found that aging may enhance affective aspects of pain perception. Finally, our results show that aging is characterized by reduced neural processing of painful stimuli. This phenomenon could be related to the increased vulnerability of older participants to develop chronic pain.
尽管人们承认疼痛可能受到认知因素的调节，但对于衰老对这些控制过程的影响知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨健康老年人的疼痛处理及其认知调节的脑电图相关性。
为此，在 21 名年轻（9 名男性；20.71 [2.30]）和 20 名老年（10 名男性；66.80 [4.14]）成年人中评估了分心对疼痛的影响。参与者在高分心条件（1 位回任务）和低分心条件（简单字母反应任务）下接受个体化调整的电刺激疼痛。分析疼痛相关诱发电位和疼痛评分。
两组参与者在高分心条件下的疼痛评分均低于低分心条件（F(1,39) = 13.954，p <.001）和不愉快评分（F(1,39) = 10.111，p =.003）。然而，与年轻参与者相比，老年参与者在经历疼痛刺激时给出了更高的不愉快评分（F(1,39) = 4.233，p =.046），同时伴随着神经反应的减弱（N1-P1 和 P3 幅度），无论分心条件如何（F(1,38) = 6.028 [p =.019] 和 F(1,38) = 6.669 [p =.014]）。
与年轻参与者一样，老年参与者通过分心来缓解疼痛。然而，我们还发现，衰老可能会增强疼痛感知的情感方面。最后，我们的结果表明，衰老的特点是疼痛刺激的神经处理减少。这种现象可能与老年参与者更容易患上慢性疼痛的易感性增加有关。
