Alpha and Theta Oscillations Associated With Behavioral Phenotypes of Pain-Attention Interaction.

Purpose: Pain is inherently salient and so draws our attention in addition to impacting performance on attention-demanding tasks. Individual variability in pain-attention interactions can be assessed by two kinds of behavioral phenotypes that quantify how individuals prioritize pain versus attentional needs. The intrinsic attention to pain (IAP) measure quantifies the degree to which a person attends to pain (high-IAP) or mind-wanders away from pain (low-IAP).

Can we characterize A-P/IAP behavioural phenotypes in people with chronic pain?

Two behavioural phenotypes in healthy people have been delineated based on their intrinsic attention to pain (IAP) and whether their reaction times (RT) during a cognitively-demanding task are slower (-type) or faster (A-type) during experimental pain. These behavioural phenotypes were not previously studied in chronic pain populations to avoid using experimental pain in a chronic pain context. Since pain rumination (PR) may serve as a supplement to IAP without needing noxious stimuli, we attempted to delineate A-P/IAP behavioural phenotypes in people with chronic pain and determined if PR can supplement IAP.