Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Psychology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
J Pain. 2021 Oct;22(10):1303-1314. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2021.04.010. Epub 2021 May 11.
The present study examined the role of attention control in understanding the development of negatively-biased pain memories as well as its moderating role in the relationship between pain catastrophizing and negatively-biased pain memories. Youth with chronic pain (N = 105) performed a cold pressor task (CPT) and completed self-report measures of state/trait pain catastrophizing and attention control, with the latter comprising both attention focusing and attention shifting. Two weeks after the CPT, youth's pain-related memories were elicited via telephone allowing to compute pain and anxiety memory bias indices (ie, recalling pain intensity or pain-related anxiety, respectively, as higher than initially reported). Results indicated no main effects of attention control and pain catastrophizing on pain memories. However, both components of attention control (ie, attention focusing and attention shifting) moderated the impact of pain catastrophizing on youth's memory bias, with opposite interaction effects. Specifically, whereas high levels of attention shifting buffered the influence of high pain catastrophizing on the development of pain memory bias, high levels of attention focusing strengthened the influence of high pain catastrophizing on the development of anxiety memory bias. Interaction effects were confined to trait catastrophizing (ie, not state catastrophizing). Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. PERSPECTIVE: This article investigates the role of attention control in the development of negatively-biased pain memories in children with chronic pain. Findings underscore the importance of targeting differential components of attention control and can inform intervention efforts to minimize the development of negatively biased pain memories in youth with chronic pain.
本研究考察了注意控制在理解负性偏向性疼痛记忆发展中的作用，以及它在疼痛灾难化与负性偏向性疼痛记忆之间的关系中的调节作用。患有慢性疼痛的青少年（N=105）进行了冷加压测试（CPT），并完成了状态/特质疼痛灾难化和注意控制的自我报告测量，后者包括注意聚焦和注意转移。CPT 两周后，通过电话唤起青少年的疼痛相关记忆，以便计算疼痛和焦虑记忆偏差指数（即，回忆疼痛强度或与疼痛相关的焦虑，分别高于最初报告的强度）。结果表明，注意控制和疼痛灾难化对疼痛记忆均无主要影响。然而，注意控制的两个组成部分（即注意聚焦和注意转移）均调节了疼痛灾难化对青少年记忆偏差的影响，存在相反的交互作用。具体而言，高水平的注意转移缓冲了高疼痛灾难化对疼痛记忆偏差发展的影响，而高水平的注意聚焦则增强了高疼痛灾难化对焦虑记忆偏差发展的影响。交互作用仅限于特质灾难化（即，非状态灾难化）。讨论了理论和临床意义。观点：本文研究了注意控制在慢性疼痛儿童负性偏向性疼痛记忆发展中的作用。研究结果强调了靶向注意控制的不同成分的重要性，并为干预努力提供了信息，以最小化慢性疼痛青少年负性偏向性疼痛记忆的发展。
