How People Remember Pain: The Role of Situational and Emotional Factors

Elżbieta A. BAJCAR

Pain Research Group, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060 Cracow, Poland , Poland

Przemysław BĄBEL

Pain Research Group, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060 Cracow, Poland , Poland

Abstract

There is growing evidence that people may not remember pain accurately. Some studies have shown that recalled chronic, acute, and experimental pain is exaggerated. However, a few studies have demonstrated that recalled acute and experimental pain may be underestimated. Additional data shows that past chronic, acute, and experimental pain may be remembered accurately. Previous studies have found that many factors may influence the memory for pain, including the mean pain intensity that is experienced, the peak and the end of pain, the length of delay between the pain experience and its recall, and current pain during pain recall. Psychological factors that may be related to the memory for pain include pain expectations, negative affect, state and trait anxiety, distress, and pain catastrophizing. This article summarizes the results of a series of studies conducted by the Pain Research Group from the Institute of Psychology of the Jagiellonian University aimed to answer the question why previous findings are so diverse and to identify factors influencing the memory of pain. The most important and novel results of these studies include the finding that memory of pain is influenced by the meaning and affective value of the pain experience together with the finding showing that the memory of pain is influenced not only by negative affect, but also by positive affect. These results may have important implications for both clinical research and clinical practice.

 

The article is part of a research project no. 2016/23/B/HS6/03890 funded by the National Science Centre, Poland.

Keywords:

anxiety, memory, negative affect, pain, positive affect, recall delay