Re: Does chronic pain have an effect on memory?

Date: Tue Aug 5 06:20:14 2008
Posted By: Mitchell Maltenfort, Staff, Neurosurgery, Thomas Jefferson University
Area of science: Neuroscience
ID: 1217839117.Ns

Message:

Michael,

Chronic pain can affect memory, but the mechanism may not be stress.

There's a study available (http://www.anesthesia- analgesia.org/cgi/content/full/104/5/1223) that spells out the case that pain affects memory by dividing attention.

Also take a look at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez? Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=9755349[uid].

It's entirely possible there is a mechanism by which pain affects memory thru the hippocampus, but my hunch is that the distraction effect would dominate.

References:
Dick BD, and Rashiq S
Disruption of Attention and Working Memory Traces in Individuals with Chronic Pain
Anesth Analg 2007;104:1223-1229
doi: 10.1213/01.ane.0000263280.49786.f5

Kuhajda MC, Thorn BE, Klinger MR.
The effect of pain on memory for affective words.
Ann Behav Med. 1998 Winter;20(1):31-5.

Current Queue | Current Queue for Neuroscience | Neuroscience archives

Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Neuroscience.