Integrating pain and self: processing biases for information relating to self, pain and reward

Abstract

Background: Preferential processing of certain types of information is a key mechanism underlying human behaviour. It is well established that processing is enhanced for content relating to ourselves, reward, or pain, but little is known about the relationship between these biases. We used an association-learning task to address three crucial questions: (i) Do pain-, reward-, and self-biases differ in magnitude? (ii) What mechanisms underlie each bias? (iii) How do individual differences modulate the magnitude of these biases? Methods: 30 participants will perform a modified version of the novel-associations task (Sui, 2012), providing within-subject reaction time and accuracy measures of reward-, pain- and self-biases. Between-subject factors such as fear of pain, catastrophising and pain experience will be assessed by questionnaires. Expected Results: We expect the relationship between pain- and self-biases to differ depending on individual differences of pain experience and cognition. Analyses will include correlation, ANOVA and linear regression. Current Stage of Work: Piloting. Discussion: The relationship between pain experience, and pain- and self-biases may be relevant for clinical research on chronic pain or other patients with recurrent pain.