Exploring Attentional Bias for Real-World, Pain-related Information in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Using a Novel Change Detection Paradigm

Schoth, Daniel E.; Ma, Yizhu; Liossi, Christina

doi:10.1097/ajp.0000000000000149

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Further strengths of this study include the ecological validity and translational qualities of the visceral pain model, as rectal distension-induced pain is highly salient even in healthy individuals (12) and closely resembles clinical pain and related symptoms such as urgency (73) in functional gastrointestinal disorders like IBS (76). In the context of attentional bias research, the utilization of semantic and pictorial threat stimuli has raised concerns about their ecological validity and generalizability (26), resulting in calls for research with paradigms that closely resemble real-life situations (77) or consider motivational context (69). In line with these efforts, our model offers research perspectives in patient populations, especially those with somatic symptom disorder or chronic visceral pain such as in IBS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences Linking Pain-Related Fear and Interoceptive Hypervigilance: Attentional Biases to Conditioned Threat and Safety Signals in a Visceral Pain Model

2020

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Although the broad role of fear and hypervigilance in conditions of the gut-brain axis like irritable bowel syndrome is supported by converging evidence, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Even in healthy individuals, it remains unclear how pain-related fear may contribute to pain-related attentional biases for acute visceral pain. Building on our classical fear conditioning work in a clinically relevant model of visceral pain, we herein elucidated pain-related attentional biases shaped by associative learning in healthy women and men, aiming to elucidate possible sex differences and the role of psychological traits. To this end, we compared the impact of differentially conditioned pain-predictive cues on attentional biases in healthy women and men. Sixty-four volunteers accomplished a visual dot-probe task and subsequently underwent pain-related fear conditioning where one visual cue (CS + ) was contingently paired with a painful rectal distention (US) while another cue remained unpaired (CS − ). During the following test phase, the dot-probe task was repeated to investigate changes in attentional biases in response to differentially valenced cues. While pain-related learning was comparable between groups, men revealed more pronounced attentional engagement with the CS + and CS − whereas women demonstrated stronger difficulties to disengage from the CS + when presented with a neutral cue. However, when both CS + and CS − were presented together, women revealed stronger difficulties to disengage from the CS − . Regression analyses revealed an interaction of sex, with negative affect predicting stronger avoidance of the CS + and stronger difficulties to disengage attention from the CS − in men. These results provide first evidence that pain-related fear conditioning may induce attentional biases differentially in healthy women and men. Hence, sex differences may play a role in attentional mechanisms underlying hypervigilance, and may be modulated by psychological vulnerability factors relevant to chronic visceral pain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences Linking Pain-Related Fear and Interoceptive Hypervigilance: Attentional Biases to Conditioned Threat and Safety Signals in a Visceral Pain Model

2020

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“…For ambiguous scenarios, readability and sentence length can also be controlled for, although this is not always reported in the literature. Considering ambiguous visual scenes, it has been argued that the low-level features (e.g., complexity, luminance, color saturation) should be assessed and controlled for (Nummenmaa et al, 2006 ; Schoth et al, 2015 ), which may influence cognitive processes of attention and interpretation. Ambiguous video clips have been used much less frequently, although may be standardized by use of the same model/s, with the same clothes, depicted in the same environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another general limitation is that facial expressions in real life are dynamic, and therefore interpreting an ambiguous static expression is likely to be different to interpreting an ambiguous dynamic expression. Furthermore, interpretation of facial expressions in real-life is influenced by contextual information stemming from the environment and individual's body language (Wieser and Brosch, 2012 ; de Gelder et al, 2014 ; Schoth et al, 2015 ; Kim and Lee, 2016 ), which is not captured in a single isolated expression.…”

Section: Review Of Available Paradigmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Attention, in turn, influences processes of interpretation (Neisser, 1967 ; Pomplun et al, 1996 ; Fu et al, 2006 ). It is therefore critical that research using visual scenes assess, control, and provide details on low-level features, valence and arousal (Nummenmaa et al, 2006 ; Schoth et al, 2015 ), especially when comparing participant responses across multiple stimuli conditions (e.g., ambiguous vs. non-ambiguous conditions). It should also be noted that visual scenes are static representations of dynamic interactions, and in real-life human behaviors may serve to either increase or decrease ambiguity.…”

Section: Review Of Available Paradigmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Systematic Review of Experimental Paradigms for Exploring Biased Interpretation of Ambiguous Information with Emotional and Neutral Associations

Schoth

Liossi

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Interpretation biases have been extensively explored in a range of populations, including patients with anxiety and depressive disorders where they have been argued to influence the onset and maintenance of such conditions. Other populations in which interpretation biases have been explored include patients with chronic pain, anorexia nervosa, and alcohol dependency among others, although this literature is more limited. In this research, stimuli with threatening/emotional and neutral meanings are presented, with participant responses indicative of ambiguity resolution. A large number of paradigms have been designed and implemented in the exploration of interpretation biases, some varying in minor features only. This article provides a review of experimental paradigms available for exploring interpretation biases, with the aim to stimulate and inform the design of future research exploring cognitive biases across a range of populations. A systematic search of the experimental literature was conducted in Medline, PsychINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases. Search terms were information, stimuli, and ambiguous intersected with the terms interpretation and bias*. Forty-five paradigms were found, categorized into those using ambiguous words, ambiguous images, and ambiguous scenarios. The key features, strengths and limitations of the paradigms identified are discussed.

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“…Prior to conducting the investigation, the size of each compressed JPEG image in kilobytes was assessed, based on the notion that the more complex the image the larger the file in kilobytes (Buodo, Sarlo, & Palomba, ). File size has been used in a number of former studies as an index of image complexity (Buodo et al, ; Nummenmaa et al, ) including the only former study to use complex real‐world images to explore pain‐related attentional biases (Schoth, Ma, & Liossi, ). No significant differences were found between pain‐related and neutral images.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eye‐movement behaviours when viewing real‐world pain‐related images

Schoth

Zhang

et al. 2019

European Journal of Pain

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Background Pain‐related cues are evolutionarily primed to capture attention, although evidence of attentional biases towards pain‐related information is mixed in healthy individuals. The present study explores whether healthy individuals show significantly different eye‐movement behaviours when viewing real‐world pain‐related scenes compared to neutral scenes. The effect of manipulating via written information the threat value of the pain‐related scenes on eye‐movement behaviours was also assessed. Methods Participants were randomized to threatening (n = 28) and non‐threatening (n = 27) information conditions. All completed a free‐viewing task with real‐world pain‐related and neutral images while their eye movements were recorded. Results Participants made significantly fewer fixations of significantly longer duration when viewing pain‐related images compared to neutral images. No significant differences were found between threatening and non‐threatening information groups in their pattern of eye movements. Conclusions This study shows that healthy individuals demonstrate attentional biases to pain‐related real‐world complex images compared to neutral images. Future research is needed to establish the implications of these biases, particularly in the context of acute pain, on the onset and/or subsequent maintenance of chronic pain conditions. Significance Healthy individuals show different eye‐movement behaviours when viewing pain‐related scenes than neutral scenes, supporting evolutionary accounts of pain. Implications for the onset and/or maintenance of chronic pain need to be explored.

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Exploring Attentional Bias for Real-World, Pain-related Information in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Using a Novel Change Detection Paradigm

Cited by 8 publications

References 44 publications

Sex Differences Linking Pain-Related Fear and Interoceptive Hypervigilance: Attentional Biases to Conditioned Threat and Safety Signals in a Visceral Pain Model

Sex Differences Linking Pain-Related Fear and Interoceptive Hypervigilance: Attentional Biases to Conditioned Threat and Safety Signals in a Visceral Pain Model

A Systematic Review of Experimental Paradigms for Exploring Biased Interpretation of Ambiguous Information with Emotional and Neutral Associations

Eye‐movement behaviours when viewing real‐world pain‐related images

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