Society for Ambulatory Assessment, Date: 2019/06/19 - 2019/06/22, Location: Syracyse, NY

Publication date: 2019-06-20

Author:

Walentynowicz, Marta
Schneider, Stefan ; Stone, Arthur A

Abstract:

Background When asked to report on their experiences in the past week, patients often recall them as more intense than initially reported. However, until now the cross-domain consistency and temporal stability of recall bias have not been investigated. This study addresses this gap by exploring recall bias for pain, negative affect (NA), and positive affect (PA) in chronic pain patients. Methods Secondary analyses included two ecological momentary assessment studies. Chronic pain patients (Study 1, n=116; Study 2, n=68) rated the intensity of momentary pain, PA, and NA several times a day for two weekly periods. Recall ratings were collected at the end of each week. Recall bias was defined as the discrepancy between the 7-day recall and the mean real-time ratings. Results On average, the 7-day recall was higher than the mean momentary ratings for pain, PA, and NA. The recall bias was moderately stable over time, with test-retest reliabilities over 3 months of .53 (pain), .53 (PA) and .31 (NA). The correlations between recall bias for pain, PA, and NA were mostly not significant. Variability, peak experience, and state at the moment of recall predicted recall bias for pain and NA. Recall bias for PA and NA, but not for pain, was related to trait anxiety and depression in Study 1. Conclusions This study provides evidence for recall bias for both pain and affect ratings in chronic pain patients. Individual differences in recall bias were not consistent across domains suggesting that recall bias is not a general phenomenon. Thus, it cannot be assumed that patients who retrospectively overreport pain will also overreport other experiences. The current study opens important avenues for future research regarding mechanisms underlying recall bias.