WORD COMPLETION IN CHRONIC PAIN - EVIDENCE FOR SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF PAIN

Schematic representation of pain information was investigated in chron ic pain patients, health professionals, and nonpatient controls. Under the guise of an English-language experiment, Ss were presented with 1 2 word stems to be completed with the first 2 English words that came to mind. Four of the stems could be completed with sensory pain words, 4 with affective, and 4 with words associated with pain or illness. A ll could be completed with at least 3 other nonpain words of equal or greater frequency. Results indicate that chronic pain Ss produced sign ificantly more pain-related completions than control Ss and that in al l 3 groups the types of pain words produced were related to the extent of personal experience of pain. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the organization of schema, imp licit memory, and the activation of mental representations of pain (sc hema).