Attentional processing of other’s facial display of pain: An eye tracking study

Vervoort, Tine; Trost, Zina; Prkachin, Kenneth M.; Mueller, Sven C.

doi:10.1016/j.pain.2013.02.017

Cited by 81 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…AB assessed at earlier or later stages in time, may have shown a stronger relationship with pain and difficulty appraisals (e.g., [21]) However, this explanation is tentative; future research using other methodologies to assess AB is warranted. Tracking participants eye movement while viewing another's pain expression might be particularly relevant as this would provide a more direct and continuous index of attentional processing, hence allowing to more precisely study the temporal dynamics of observer's attentional biases [52]. Second, it is possible that AB -while a relevant contributor -may not solely explain the association between perceived injustice and negative outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, 8 images of two additional persons showing no pain expression were selected for practice trials. The above stimulus set and procedures have been used in prior research examining AB to pain (see e.g., [50,52,53]). The validity of the present stimulus set is supported by previous findings that differential facial pain expressiveness (i.e., NFE, MFE, LFE, HFE) reflects differences in observers' pain intensity ratings such that increasing levels of facial pain expressiveness correspond with observers' increasing pain ratings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of Perceived Injustice on Appraisals of Physical Activity: An Examination of the Mediating Role of Attention Bias to Pain in a Chronic Low Back Pain Sample

Trost

Ryckeghem

Scott

et al. 2016

The Journal of Pain

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The current study examined the relationship between perceived injustice and attentional bias (AB) toward pain among individuals with chronic low back pain asked to perform and appraise the pain and difficulty of a standardized set of common physical activities. A pictorial dot-probe task assessed AB toward pain stimuli (i.e., pain faces cueing pain), after which participants performed the physical tasks. Participants also rated face stimuli in terms of pain, sadness, and anger expression. As hypothesized, perceived injustice was positively associated with AB toward pain stimuli; additionally, perceived injustice and AB were both positively associated with appraisals of pain and difficulty. Counter to expectations, AB did not mediate the relationship between perceived injustice and task appraisals, suggesting that AB is insufficient to explain this relationship. Exploratory analyses indicated that participants with higher levels of perceived injustice rated stimulus faces as sadder and angrier; no such differences emerged for pain ratings. This is the first study to examine the association between perceived injustice and AB toward pain, as well as perceived injustice and in-vivo appraisals of common physical activity. Results extend existing literature and suggest that attentional and potential interpretive bias should be considered in future research.Perspective: This article identifies significant associations between perceived injustice, biased attention to pain, and appraisals of common physical activities among individuals with chronic low back pain. These findings suggest targets for intervention as well as directions for future research regarding individuals with high perceptions of injustice related to pain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Perceived Injustice on Appraisals of Physical Activity: An Examination of the Mediating Role of Attention Bias to Pain in a Chronic Low Back Pain Sample

Trost

Ryckeghem

Scott

et al. 2016

The Journal of Pain

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“…Within the present study, the two target pictures were defined as areas of interest (AOIs) within which eye movements would be monitored. Gaze that remained stable within a 1° visual angle and that lasted at least 100 ms on a defined AOI was classified as fixation to that position [see e.g., 79,85,87]. Two parameters were calculated for each picture: (1) time to first fixation which gauged initial or early attention allocation and (2) gaze duration which gauged attentional maintenance [see e.g., 60,79].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gaze that remained stable within a 1° visual angle and that lasted at least 100 ms on a defined AOI was classified as fixation to that position [see e.g., 79,85,87]. Two parameters were calculated for each picture: (1) time to first fixation which gauged initial or early attention allocation and (2) gaze duration which gauged attentional maintenance [see e.g., 60,79]. Time to First Fixation was defined as the mean time (in ms) following the onset of a picture pair for parents to first fixate on each level of facial expressiveness (neutral, low pain, moderate pain, high pain).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion regulatory function of parent attention to child pain and associated implications for parental pain control behaviour

Vervoort

Trost

Sütterlin

et al. 2014

Pain

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We investigated the function of parental attention to child pain in regulating parental distress and pain control behaviour when observing their child performing a painful (cold pressor) task (CPT); we also studied the moderating role of parental state anxiety. Participants were 62 schoolchildren and one of their parents. Parental attention towards or away from child pain (ie, attend to pain vs avoid pain) was experimentally manipulated during a viewing task pairing unfamiliar children's neutral and pain faces. Before and after the viewing task, parental distress regulation was assessed by heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). In a subsequent phase, parents observed their own child perform a CPT task, allowing assessment of parental pain control behaviour (indexed by latency to stop their child's CPT performance) and parental distress, which was assessed via self-report before and after observation of child CPT performance. Eye tracking during the viewing task and self-reported attention to own child's pain confirmed successful attention manipulation. Further, findings indicated that the effect of attentional strategy on parental emotion regulation (indexed by HR, self-report) and pain control behaviour depended on parents' state anxiety. Specifically, whereas low anxious parents reported more distress and demonstrated more pain control behaviour in the Attend to Pain condition, high anxious parents reported more distress and showed more pain control behaviour in the Avoid Pain condition. This inverse pattern was likewise apparent in physiological distress indices (HR) in response to the initial viewing task. Theoretical/clinical implications and further research directions are discussed

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“…There are two recent eye-tracking studies using pictorial stimuli, i.e., faces displaying pain and other emotions (Vervoort et al, 2013;Liossi et al, 2014). Vervoort et al (2013) report an initial bias (vigilance) towards pain faces followed by decreasing attentional engagement (avoidance) which was mediated by the level of pain catastrophizing and self-reported pain intensity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%