Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Memory distortion during acute and chronic pain recalling.

D Matera1, M Morelli, M La Grua

  • 1United Section of Anesthesia-Algology, Tuscan Orthopedic Institute, General Hospital, USL 10, Florence, Italy.

Minerva Anestesiologica
|December 16, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Patients often misremember their initial pain levels, impacting pain relief assessments. This memory distortion is linked to how much pain changes during treatment, not the current pain level.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The impact of COVID-19 on sexual behavior, male sexual function, and reproductive health: an interdisciplinary narrative review from a urological perspective.

International urology and nephrology·2026
Same author

Molecular Characterization of Adhesives (Glue Lining Pastes) Used in Restoration.

Analytical chemistry·2024
Same author

Intestinal microbiota, intestinal permeability and the urogenital tract: is there a pathophysiological link?

Journal of physiology and pharmacology : an official journal of the Polish Physiological Society·2023
Same author

Adherence to a guided walking program with amelioration of cognitive functions in subjects with schizophrenia even during COVID-19 pandemic.

BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation·2022
Same author

Gait risk factors for disease progression differ between non-traumatic and post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis and cartilage·2021
Same author

Machine learning applied to X-ray tomography as a new tool to analyze the voids in RRP Nb<sub>3</sub>Sn wires.

Scientific reports·2021

Area of Science:

  • Pain Medicine
  • Psychology of Pain

Background:

  • Accurate pain assessment is crucial for effective treatment.
  • Patient recall of pain intensity can be subjective and prone to distortion.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the phenomenon of pain memory distortion.
  • To evaluate the reliability of quantitative pain scales in reflecting initial pain experiences.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of 2333 patients treated at a Pain Therapy Centre (1994-2000).
  • Evaluation of Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) scores at treatment initiation and conclusion.
  • Assessment of pain relief through correlation of initial and final pain scores.

Main Results:

  • Patients demonstrated inaccurate recall of their initial pain intensity when using both VAS and NRS.

Related Experiment Videos

  • The degree of pain memory distortion was not directly correlated with the final pain score.

    • Conclusions:

    • Pain memory distortion is influenced by the variation in pain intensity during treatment, not the current pain level.
    • Memory distortion is inversely related to the initial pain intensity.
    • Evaluating pain relief solely based on end-of-treatment scores can lead to under- or overestimation of actual pain reduction.