Optimising Cognitive Function in Patients With Chronic Pain

The cognitive training protocol will be run using pre-validated software, HappyNeuronPro, that delivers cognitive training games. The games are designed to be visually interesting and engaging, and are varied so that each session will comprise multiple different games, to avoid boredom. They begin with easy-to-follow instructions and demonstrations, then as the participant progresses, the difficulty is automatically increased in correspondence with their performance, to avoid ceiling or plateau effects. Participants will be assigned a program targeting multiple facets of cognition found to be compromised in chronic pain states, including divided attention, working memory, mentally planning a sequence of items to form a pattern or complete a puzzle, and response inhibition.

This group will be provided with a variety of videos to watch, the content of which will be in the style of documentaries on general interest topics such as nature, travel, culture, and history. Each video is followed by multiple-choice questions that participants will answer, to ensure attention was engaged. The videos are visually stimulating and engaging, but involve no increment in difficulty or requirement to improve skills. They may provide some distraction from pain and may be relaxing, interesting and informative.