5 research outputs found
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Keeping pain in mind: a motivational account of attention to pain
Attention is a key concept in many theories of pain perception. A clinically popular idea is that pain is
more intense in persons who are hypervigilant for or bias their attention to pain information. So far,
evidence for such bias in pain patients as compared to healthy persons is inconclusive. Furthermore,
studies investigating the effects of distracting attention away from pain have shown contradictory
results. In this review, we present a motivational perspective on attentional processing of pain that
accounts for these inconclusive research findings. We argue that pain always has to be considered within
a context of goal pursuit. From this perspective, two largely unexplored theoretical assumptions are
introduced. First, when pain occurs during the pursuit of a certain goal, it may unintentionally capture
attention although it is not relevant for the goal. Whether such unintentional attentional capture
happens is not only dependent upon the characteristics of the pain but also on the characteristics of the
focal goal. Second, attention to pain and pain-related information might be driven by a focal goal related
to pain. Attentional processing of pain information will be particularly enhanced when the focal goal is
related to pain management (e.g., attempting to gain control). Future research should systematically
investigate the role of motivation and goal pursuit in the attentional processing of pain-related
information. This motivational perspective offers a powerful framework to explain inter- and intraindividual
differences in the deployment of attention to pain-related information
French Roadmap for complex Systems 2008-2009
This second issue of the French Complex Systems Roadmap is the outcome of the
Entretiens de Cargese 2008, an interdisciplinary brainstorming session
organized over one week in 2008, jointly by RNSC, ISC-PIF and IXXI. It
capitalizes on the first roadmap and gathers contributions of more than 70
scientists from major French institutions. The aim of this roadmap is to foster
the coordination of the complex systems community on focused topics and
questions, as well as to present contributions and challenges in the complex
systems sciences and complexity science to the public, political and industrial
spheres
Recommended from our members
French Roadmap for complex Systems 2008-2009
This second issue of the French Complex Systems Roadmap is the outcome of the
Entretiens de Cargese 2008, an interdisciplinary brainstorming session
organized over one week in 2008, jointly by RNSC, ISC-PIF and IXXI. It
capitalizes on the first roadmap and gathers contributions of more than 70
scientists from major French institutions. The aim of this roadmap is to foster
the coordination of the complex systems community on focused topics and
questions, as well as to present contributions and challenges in the complex
systems sciences and complexity science to the public, political and industrial
spheres