Abstract

Pushing through aches and pain is a ritual for many. It is often overlooked that pain is a physical as well as mental phenomenon. It is well established that chronic pain increasingly affects performance the longer the duration and the higher the intensity. Performance in acute pain is less established for complex and simple span tasks. Previous research suggests only complex tasks are negatively affected by painful stimuli. This study seeks to confirm previous literature on complex span tasks and test if simple span tasks are affected by performance and pain intensities. 34 participants completed either the digit span test (DGS) for the simple span task or the paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT) for the complex span task. Ice was used as the painful stimulus. Results indicate improvements in PASAT performance in ice due to learning effects, with a slight decrease in performance on the DGS. Pain for the PASAT and DGS increased incrementally, with the DGS climbing pain ratings faster. Higher performance correlated to lower pain in the PASAT, whereas higher performance correlated to higher pain in the DGS. There were no gender differences in performance. These results suggest the PASAT utilizes more cognitive resources. A larger computerized study is needed to remove human error and expand our understanding of what affects the mechanisms of storage and processing information for better transfer to long-term memory.

Semester/Year of Award

Fall 2024

Mentor

Dr. Michael T. Lane

Mentor Department Affiliation

Exercise and Sport Science

Access Options

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Scholars

Degree Level

Bachelors

Department

Exercise and Sport Science

IRB Approval Number (if applicable)

5980

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