25: Episodic Memory, Future Thinking, and the Role of Pain Catastrophising.

Topic: Basic Science
Subtopic: Non-specific to any diagnosis (including studies in healthy animals), Assessment and Measurement of Pain/Nociception, Behavioral studies

Background and Aims: Those with chronic pain differ in how they recall past experiences and imagine future scenarios. They show reduced specificity when recalling personal events (episodic memory; EM) and when imagining hypothetical future events (episodic future thinking; EFT) (Quenstedt et al., 2021). Chronic pain is also associated with greater pain catastrophising, a cognitive process involved in the avoidance of future scenarios perceived as potentially painful (Vlaeyen & Linton, 2000). In this study, we aimed to investigate whether pain catastrophising predicts the specificity and episodic detail produced during EM and EFT in chronic pain populations.

Methods: We recruited 73 Australian adults who reported any type of chronic pain. The mean age of participants was 33.78 years (SD = 14.94), with 62 reporting their biological sex as female. Participants completed an online survey which included the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (Dworkin et al., 2009), and the Pain Catastrophising Scale (Sullivan et al., 1995). Participants also completed the adapted autobiographical interview, requiring them to detail a personal memory or hypothetical future event in a written format in response to neutral cue words. The specificity and episodic detail of personal memories and future events was recorded.

Results: To investigate whether pain catastrophising predicts episodic detail and specificity in EM and EFT, a series of hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted. Age and recent pain intensity were controlled for by entering them into the first step of each model. The second step of the model included the three subscales of pain catastrophising: rumination, magnification, and helplessness. The results showed that rumination and helplessness were significant predictors of episodic detail only for EFT. Additionally, rumination, magnification, and helplessness did not predict the specificity of EFT and EM.

Conclusions: This study suggests that individuals with chronic pain who ruminate on their pain envision themselves in future events with less episodic detail. Conversely, those who feel helpless regarding their pain produce greater episodic detail when envisioning their future events. However, pain catastrophising levels did not predict the episodic detail and specificity of personal memories. Together, these findings indicate that catastrophising thoughts around pain can predict the type of details elicited during mental simulations of personal future events, but not the specificity. Future research should investigate how the level of episodic detail in mentally simulated future events may influence fear-avoidance behaviours.

References: Dworkin, R. H., Turk, D. C., Revicki, D. A., Harding, G., Coyne, K. S., Peirce-Sandner, S., ... & Melzack, R. (2009). Development and initial validation of an expanded and revised version of the Short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ-2). Pain, 144(1-2), 35-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2009.02.007

Quenstedt, S. R., Sucher, J. N., Pfeffer, K. A., Hart, R., & Brown, A. D. (2021). Autobiographical memory and future thinking specificity and content in chronic pain. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 624187. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.624187

Sullivan, M. J., Bishop, S. R., & Pivik, J. (1995). The pain catastrophizing scale: development and validation. Psychological assessment, 7(4), 524. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/1040-3590.7.4.524

Vlaeyen, J. W., & Linton, S. J. (2000). Fear-avoidance and its consequences in chronic musculoskeletal pain: A state of the art. Pain, 85(3), 317-332. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/S0304-3959(99)00242-0

Presenting Author: Constantino Toufexis
Submitting Author: Constantino Toufexis

Senior Author: Andrew Flood

IASP 2026 Global Year theme of Neuropathic Pain: No

• Janie Busby Grant: PhD - University of Canberra
• Jeroen Van Boxtel: PhD - University of Canberra
• Andrew Flood: PhD - University of Canberra