I am not the cause of this pain: An experimental study of the cognitive processes underlying causal attribution in the unpredictable situation whether negative outcomes.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Pain causal attribution is the attribution of pain causes to self or others, which may depend on one's choice of actions. The study aimed to examine how the cognitive processes of pain causal attribution as one aspect of the sense of agency change in healthy individuals based on free or forced choice, using a temporal binding (TB) experimental task. METHODS: Participants pressed keys (action) in a combined TB task, with one key having a high probability of delivering pain (with tone). In fact, only the bias between the free-choice and the forced choice conditions was manipulated. Participants estimated the time between their action and tone, with shorter intervals indicating internal attribution. RESULTS: Interval estimation was significantly longer in the forced-choice condition than in the free-choice condition when a pain stimulus was delivered. CONCLUSIONS: Explicit complaints of pain being caused by others may be represented in implicit cognitive processes.