Chronic pain affects an estimated 100 million Americans, and its impact goes beyond physical discomfort.

New research, led by University of Arizona psychologist Stephen Cowen, illustrates how chronic pain may impact cognitive abilities, such as decision-making, as well.

Cowen and UA professor of pharmacology Frank Porreca, along with their collaborators at Eli Lilly, investigated how pain impacts cognitive flexibility, or the ability of the brain to learn new information. The study, recently published in the journal Pain, revealed that the ability to adapt to changing situations may be hindered in those with chronic pain.

"Cognitive flexibility is a broad term, but overall, it's your ability to adapt to new information, being flexible with your learning," said Cowen, an assistant professor in the UA Department of Psychology. "For example, you might initially learn one route to work, and you do that day after day, and then the next 2 days in a row there's construction. You should be able to reroute yourself and not, out of habit alone, keep going down that path that always makes you late for work."