Gubler, Danièle; Rominger, Christian; grosse Holtforth, Martin; Egloff, Niklaus; Frickmann, Frank; Goetze, Benjamin; Harnik, Michael; Streitberger, Konrad; Zeiss, Stephan; Troche, Stefan (2022). The impact of chronic pain on creative ideation: An examination of the underlying attention-related psychophysiological mechanisms. European journal of pain, 26(8), pp. 1768-1780. Wiley-Blackwell 10.1002/ejp.2000
|
Text
European_Journal_of_Pain_-_2022_-_Gubler_-_The_impact_of_chronic_pain_on_creative_ideation_An_examination_of_the.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (848kB) | Preview |
BACKGROUND
Attentional deficits in patients with chronic pain are common and well-studied. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of chronic pain on more complex cognitive abilities that rely on well-functioning attentional systems. With the current study, we aimed to investigate whether the impact of chronic pain on attention affects creative ideation as measured with an adaptation of the alternate uses task (AUT).
METHODS
Performance in the AUT was compared between 33 patients suffering from chronic pain and 33 healthy matched controls. While solving the task, EEG was recorded to measure the degree of internally directed attention assessed by means of task-related power (TRP) changes.
RESULTS
The results revealed that patients with chronic pain generated less creative ideas than healthy controls. This lack of performance was accompanied by lower event-related synchronization (ERS), especially in right parietal sites. Furthermore, these ERS differences explained one-third of the inter-group variance in AUT performance.
CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that performance decrements in creative ideation in patients with chronic pain may be at least partly attributable to attentional impairments associated with chronic pain.
Actions (login required)
 |
Edit item |