Episodic Memory, Chiari I Malformation, Personality and Coping: The Role of Chronic Pain

Episodic memory is contextual memory linking temporal, spatial, emotional, and self-referential contexts. In this review, we placed particular emphasis on the emotional context because of its nexus with chronic pain effects. Psychological (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, & loneliness) and medical (neurological, cardiovascular, chronic pain) conditions can adversely affect episodic memory. Furthermore, individual differences in emotional/affective experience as represented by trait personality variables (e.g., conscientiousness, openness to experience, introversion, extraversion, and neuroticism) can either facilitate or harm episodic memory performance. This paper aims to review episodic memory, its associated attention and executive function co-processes, the modulation of memory function as a result of affective experiences as represented by trait personality, and how coping mechanisms can serve as a buffer to maintain episodic memory function using Chiari malformation Type I (a chronic pain syndrome) as a model. Finally, allostatic load and pharmacological effects of pain medications on episodic memory are discussed.