A functional-evolutionary perspective on persistent pain

What causes, in some individuals, the transition from acute to chronic pain? This research project will test a model of persistent pain under a functional-evolutionary perspective, which integrates neuroscientific and psychological elements. The idea is that persistent pain emerges from a dynamic interplay among individual characteristics, threatening environments, and competing relevant goals. My research proposal has three objectives, which will be investigated in dedicated work packages. First, it will define how individual differences in learning style relate to different behaviours in persistent pain. Second, it will characterize how and through which mechanisms supportive/unsupportive social environments modulate the development persistent pain, and why and when individuals stick to falsified negative beliefs. Third, it will explain how competing goals shape pain persistency.

Keywords:pain, EEG, persistent pain

Disciplines:Biological and physiological psychology not elsewhere classified, Health psychology, Psychophysiology, Neuroimaging