Nonlinear Effects of Noxious Thermal Stimulation and Working Memory Demands on Subjective Pain Perception
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In: Pain Medicine, Vol. 16, No. 7, 15.07.2015, p. 1301-10.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Nonlinear Effects of Noxious Thermal Stimulation and Working Memory Demands on Subjective Pain Perception
AU - Sturgeon, John A
AU - Tieu, Meghan M
AU - Jastrzab, Laura
AU - McCue, Rebecca
AU - Gandhi, Vanisha
AU - Mackey, Sean C
N1 - Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2015/7/15
Y1 - 2015/7/15
N2 - OBJECTIVE: A bidirectional relationship between working memory (WM) and acute pain has long been assumed, but equivocal evidence exists regarding this relationship. This study characterized the relationship between WM and acute pain processing in healthy individuals using an adapted Sternberg WM task.DESIGN: Participants completed a Sternberg task while receiving noxious thermal stimulation. Participants received a pseudorandom presentation of four different temperatures (baseline temperatures and individually determined low-, medium-, and high-temperature stimuli) and four levels of Sternberg task difficulty (0-, 3-, 6-, and 9-letter strings).SUBJECTS: Twenty-eight healthy participants were recruited from Stanford University and the surrounding community to complete this study.RESULTS: A nonlinear interaction between intensity of thermal stimulation and difficulty of the Sternberg task was noted. Increased cognitive load from the Sternberg task resulted in increased perception of pain in low-intensity thermal stimulation but suppressed pain perception in high-intensity thermal stimulation. Thermal stimulation had no significant effect on participants' response time or accuracy on the Sternberg task regardless of intensity level.CONCLUSIONS: Pain perception appears to decrease as a function of WM load only for sufficiently noxious stimuli. However, increasing noxious stimuli did not affect cognitive performance. These complex relationships may reflect a shared cognitive space that can become "overloaded" with input of multiple stimuli of sufficient intensity.
AB - OBJECTIVE: A bidirectional relationship between working memory (WM) and acute pain has long been assumed, but equivocal evidence exists regarding this relationship. This study characterized the relationship between WM and acute pain processing in healthy individuals using an adapted Sternberg WM task.DESIGN: Participants completed a Sternberg task while receiving noxious thermal stimulation. Participants received a pseudorandom presentation of four different temperatures (baseline temperatures and individually determined low-, medium-, and high-temperature stimuli) and four levels of Sternberg task difficulty (0-, 3-, 6-, and 9-letter strings).SUBJECTS: Twenty-eight healthy participants were recruited from Stanford University and the surrounding community to complete this study.RESULTS: A nonlinear interaction between intensity of thermal stimulation and difficulty of the Sternberg task was noted. Increased cognitive load from the Sternberg task resulted in increased perception of pain in low-intensity thermal stimulation but suppressed pain perception in high-intensity thermal stimulation. Thermal stimulation had no significant effect on participants' response time or accuracy on the Sternberg task regardless of intensity level.CONCLUSIONS: Pain perception appears to decrease as a function of WM load only for sufficiently noxious stimuli. However, increasing noxious stimuli did not affect cognitive performance. These complex relationships may reflect a shared cognitive space that can become "overloaded" with input of multiple stimuli of sufficient intensity.
KW - Acute Pain/physiopathology
KW - Adolescent
KW - Adult
KW - Cognition
KW - Female
KW - Hot Temperature/adverse effects
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Memory, Short-Term
KW - Neuropsychological Tests
KW - Nonlinear Dynamics
KW - Pain Measurement
KW - Pain Perception/physiology
KW - Reaction Time/physiology
KW - Young Adult
U2 - 10.1111/pme.12774
DO - 10.1111/pme.12774
M3 - Article
C2 - 25929747
VL - 16
SP - 1301
EP - 1310
JO - Pain Medicine
JF - Pain Medicine
SN - 1526-2375
IS - 7
ER -