Memory impairment in chronic pain patients and the related neuropsychological mechanisms: a review

ObjectiveThis study provides a comprehensive review of the literature on memory impairment and the potential effective factors in patients with chronic pain.MethodsA literature search of databases PubMed, EMBASE, SpringerLink, and PsycINFO until September 2012 was conducted using the keywords ‘memory’ and ‘chronic pain’. The study emphasises on publications over the past 20 years.ResultsMemory impairment in chronic pain patients is substantial, but the aspects of memory (e.g. working memory, long-term memory, and autobiographical memory) in chronic pain patients and the potentially related factors (e.g. age, level of education, pain conditions, emotion, neural network, and use of analgesics) are modest. Memory impairment is interpreted with the attention-narrowing hypothesis and the capacity-reduction hypothesis.ConclusionsThe currently available data and theory have explained memory impairment in chronic pain patients, but many controversies remain. Future research should focus on the subclinical characteristics of chronic pain, enlarging the sample size, and emphasise on the experimental intervention method and the cognitive neuroscience method.

Debate: a tool for teaching graduate students.

The introduction of a formal debate was used to stimulate discussion of neuroscience in our graduate program. The debate had several advantages for encouraging student participation. Several students actively participated in the debate: four debaters and five judges. Faculty coaches helped provide background knowledge and guidance before the debate but were not debaters. Faculty directed the judges in methods of evaluation but were not judges. It was felt that this method of teaching was not only fun, but also provided an opportunity to learn current topics in neuroscience, method of presentation, and critical evaluation.