Keeping an eye on pain: investigating visual attention biases in individuals with chronic pain using eye-tracking methodology

• Main Authors: Fashler SR, Katz J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2016-08-01
• Series: Journal of Pain Research
• Subjects: Attentional biases; chronic pain; avoidance; hypervigilance; dot probe
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/keeping-an-eye-on-pain-investigating-visual-attention-biases-in-indivi-peer-reviewed-article-JPR

Samantha R Fashler, Joel Katz Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Abstract: Attentional biases to painful stimuli are evident in individuals with chronic pain, although the directional tendency of these biases (ie, toward or away from threat-related stimuli) remains unclear. This study used eye-tracking technology, a measure of visual attention, to evaluate the attentional patterns of individuals with and without chronic pain during exposure to injury-related and neutral pictures. Individuals with (N=51) and without chronic pain (N=62) completed a dot-probe task using injury-related and neutral pictures while their eye movements were recorded. Mixed-design analysis of variance evaluated the interaction between group (chronic pain, pain-free) and picture type (injury-related, neutral). Reaction time results showed that regardless of chronic pain status, participants responded faster to trials with neutral stimuli in comparison to trials that included injury-related pictures. Eye-tracking measures showed within-group differences whereby injury-related pictures received more frequent fixations and visits, as well as longer average visit durations. Between-group differences showed that individuals with chronic pain had fewer fixations and shorter average visit durations for all stimuli. An examination of how biases change over the time-course of stimulus presentation showed that during the late phase of attention, individuals with chronic pain had longer average gaze durations on injury pictures relative to pain-free individuals. The results show the advantage of incorporating eye-tracking methodology when examining attentional biases, and suggest future avenues of research. Keywords: attentional biases, chronic pain, avoidance, hypervigilance, dot probe