Bunce, Katherine (2018) Pain and Attention to Negative Words. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Chronic pain can be any type of pain, varying in severity, in any location. It is generally considered to be pain that persists for longer than three months, and affects 20% of women and 17.1% of men in Australia. Pain requires attention to function – it grabs the attention of the sufferer to alert them of danger. Recent studies have indicated that attention can be manipulated as a way to alleviate pain. However, the results are not always consistent across all studies, as chronic pain is a complex and highly individual issue. This study examined the connection between attention and chronic pain. The U-shaped curve is a classic effect of free recall, whereby the first few and last few words are recalled more often than the middle words. By inserting pain-related words into the middle of a free recall task, and examining the serial position effect, it was hypothesised that participants with chronic pain would recall more pain related words than the control group. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the neutral and pain-related word recall among chronic pain participants, but that this difference was the opposite direction to the hypothesis. The serial position effect of recency was present, as well as an associated primacy effect. In a final recognition task, participants with chronic pain recognised more neutral words than painrelated words. This provided evidence for the fear-avoidance model. More specific research into the effect of attention on chronic pain is necessary to assist in the development of effective therapies.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Liam Hendry |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Aug 2025 03:12 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Aug 2025 03:12 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Chronic pain, attention, free recall, serial position, pain avoidance |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52187 |
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