Attentional Bias and Intervention of Chronic Pain Patients towards Pain-Related Information—A Study Based on EM Technology

本研究使用眼动追踪技术考察了慢性疼痛患者对疼痛线索的注视偏向及其干预，并探究了眼动指标与慢性疼痛之间的关系。研究招募健康被试(n = 30)和慢性疼痛被试(n = 29)完成图片浏览任务，同步记录眼动轨迹。其中任务一为自由浏览图片对，任务二要求被试尽量减少对疼痛图片的关注。结果表明，两组被试均存在疼痛注意偏向。但慢痛被试对疼痛图片的首视点偏向值显著大于健康被试。任务二干预效果明显，两组被试对疼痛线索的首视点持续时间和总注视时间都显著短于中性线索，且疼痛线索的首视点偏向值显著低于任务一。此外，慢痛患者在任务一中对疼痛线索的总注视时间与其疼痛天数显著正相关，而干预后相关消失；在任务二中对疼痛线索的首次注视偏向与功能受损显著正相关。这些结果可能说明了注意调控对慢性疼痛的重要作用。This study employed eye-tracking technology to investigate the attentional bias towards pain-related cues among chronic-pain patients and its intervention, and explored the relationship between eye movement indicators and chronic pain. 30 healthy participants and 29 chronic-pain participants were recruited to complete a picture browsing task, with their eye movement trajectories recorded simultaneously. Task 1 involved freely browsing pairs of pictures, while task two required participants to minimize their attention to pain-related pictures. The results indicated that both groups exhibited an attentional bias towards pain-related information. However, the first fixation bias towards pain pictures of the chronic-pain group was significantly greater than that of the healthy group. The intervention effect in Task 2 was evident, as both groups showed significantly shorter first fixation duration and dwell time on pain cues compared to neutral cues, and the first fixation bias towards pain cues was significantly lower than in Task 1. Furthermore, in Task 1, the dwell time on pain cues of chronic-pain patients was significantly positively correlated with the number of days of their painful experiences, while this correlation disappeared after the intervention. In Task 2, the first fixation bias towards pain cues was significantly positively correlated with their degree functional impairment. These results may illustrate the importance of attentional regulation in chronic pain.