Distraction from pain depends on task demands and motivation

Pain captures attention automatically, yet we can inhibit pain when we are motivated to perform other tasks. Previous studies show that engaging in a cognitively demanding task reduces pain compared with a task that is minimally demanding, yet the effects of motivation on this pain-reducing effect remain largely unexplored.

In this study, we hypothesized that motivating people to engage in a task with high demands would lead to more cognitive resources directed toward the task, thereby amplifying its pain-reducing effects.

On different trials, participants performed an easy (left-right arrow discrimination) or demanding (2-back) cognitive task while receiving nonpainful or painful heat stimuli. In half of the trials, monetary rewards were offered to motivate participants to engage and perform well in the task.

Results showed an interaction between task demands and rewards, whereby offering rewards strengthened the pain-reducing effect of a distracting task when demands were high. This effect was reinforced by increased 2-back performance when rewards were offered, indicating that both task demands and motivation are necessary to inhibit pain.

When task demands are low, motivation to engage in the task will have little impact on pain because performance cannot further increase. When motivation is low, participants will spend minimal effort to perform well in the task, thus hindering the pain-reducing effects of higher task demands. These findings suggest that the pain-reducing properties of distraction can be optimized by carefully calibrating the demands and motivational value of the task.