title: The Effect of Perceived Injustice on Appraisals of Physical Activity: An Examination of the Mediating Role of Attention Bias to Pain in a Chronic Low Back Pain Sample.
abstract: The current study examined the relationship between perceived injustice and attentional bias (AB) toward pain among individuals with chronic low back pain asked to perform and appraise the pain and difficulty of a standardized set of common physical activities. A pictorial dot-probe task assessed AB toward pain stimuli (ie, pain faces cueing pain), after which participants performed the physical tasks. Participants also rated face stimuli in terms of pain, sadness, and anger expression. As hypothesized, perceived injustice was positively associated with AB toward pain stimuli; additionally, perceived injustice and AB were positively associated with appraisals of pain and difficulty. Counter to expectations, AB did not mediate the relationship between perceived injustice and task appraisals, suggesting that AB is insufficient to explain this relationship. Exploratory analyses indicated that participants with higher levels of perceived injustice rated stimulus faces as sadder and angrier; no such differences emerged for pain ratings. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the association between perceived injustice and AB toward pain, as well as perceived injustice and in vivo appraisals of common physical activity. Results extend existing literature and suggest that attentional and potential interpretive bias should be considered in future research.
  
  
  
  This article identifies significant associations between perceived injustice, biased attention to pain, and appraisals of common physical activities among individuals with chronic low back pain. These findings suggest targets for intervention as well as directions for future research regarding individuals with high perceptions of injustice related to pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama. Electronic address: ztrost1@uab.edu.
authors.forename: Zina
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Trost
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dimitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van Ryckeghem
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College, London, England.
authors.forename: Whitney
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guck
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vervoort
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015982:Bias; D058443:Catastrophization / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Perceived injustice; anger; chronic low back pain; pain; selective attention