Executive Function as a Predictor of Pain Perception in Healthy Young Adults

Abstract

Abstract Objective Pain’s impact on executive function is understood and specific cognitive abilities may contribute to coping with pain, though past work is confounded by chronic pain populations. This study aims to understand how executive functioning may predict the experience of pain among healthy adults. It was hypothesized that poorer executive functioning would predict more intense pain perception. Method A total of 172 young adults were recruited for participation. Three aspects of executive functioning (i.e., impulsivity, cognitive flexibility, working memory) were assessed before randomizing participants to varying types and levels of stimulated pain. Results Results supported the hypothesis that poorer performance on tasks of working memory predicts more intense pain perception. Conclusions Findings are counter to past work that has found inhibition may be important for coping, and future research is needed to understand the impact of specific cognitive abilities as well as how this may differ for chronic pain.