Persistent Nociceptive Pain Alters Verbal Working Memory Neural Oscillatory Dynamics

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Amy Proskovec^1,2, Megan White³, Lin Guo⁴, Mahak Virlley^1,2, Una Makris², Jason Zafereo², Frank Yu², Elizabeth Davenport^1,2; ¹Magnetoencephalography Center of Excellence, Dallas, Texas, ²University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, ³Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, ⁴Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center, Fort Worth, Texas

Pain-related working memory deficits are well documented. The motivational theory posits that managing persistent pain can become a goal that consumes limited neural resources, leading to cognitive dysfunction. However, few studies have examined how pain affects working memory neural dynamics. We investigated the effects of persistent pain on the neural oscillations serving specific phases of verbal working memory (VWM). Thirty adults with persistent moderate-to-severe nociceptive pain (M age = 63.5, 18 female) and thirty adults with no pain (M age = 62.1, 18 female) completed a Sternberg-type VWM task during magnetoencephalography (MEG). MEG data underwent standard preprocessing, were transformed into the time-frequency domain, and significant oscillatory responses relative to baseline were imaged using a beamformer. To determine group effects (pain vs. no pain), ANCOVAs were performed on the resulting encoding and maintenance whole-brain maps with race, presence of mild cognitive impairment, and a composite score of anxiety and depression as covariates. Across groups, decreases in alpha-beta (9-16 Hz) activity were seen in left frontotemporal cortices throughout encoding and maintenance. Significant group differences emerged in right inferior frontal and supramarginal cortices during encoding, and in bilateral occipital cortices during maintenance, reflecting weaker alpha-beta responses in pain participants (all p’s < .05, corrected). Pain participants also had significantly lower accuracy on the VWM task (p < .05). In congruence with the motivational theory, our results suggest that individuals with persistent nociceptive pain display limited recruitment of right frontoparietal cortices when encoding information, as well as limited inhibition of occipital cortices during maintenance.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Working memory