Chronic Postsurgical Pain, Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction and Resilience

Participants are first engaged in an encoding phase then a subsequent recognition test with a 3-choice response; exact repetitions of earlier items, lures (similar but not identical to earlier items), and novel foils. During the test, participants are asked to identify each item as "Old," "Similar," or "New". The lure discrimination index (which measures mnemonic discrimination) is calculated as the difference between the rate of "Similar" responses given to the lure items minus "Similar" responses given to the foils. Typically, 'normal' aging is associated with a decline in mnemonic discrimination (identifying lure objects that are similar to memory set objects as "similar") with preserved recognition memory (identifying repeated memory set objects as "old"). The MST version used in the study is a validated modified online version of MST adapted to increase the efficiency of the test.

A computer task that assesses visual memory and new learning by testing a participant's memory for object location pairs. Boxes are displayed on the screen and are opened in a randomized order. One or more of them will contain a pattern. The patterns are then displayed in the middle of the screen, one at a time, and the participant must touch the box where the pattern was originally located. If the participant makes an error, the patterns are represented by their locations. The difficulty increases throughout the test. The average accuracy across the last two completed levels will be analyzed

A white box is shown in the centre of the screen, inside which digits from 2 to 9 appear in a pseudo-random order, at the rate of 100 digits per minute. Participants are requested to detect target sequences of digits (for example, 2-4-6, 3-5-7, 4-6-8). When the participant sees the target sequence they must respond by selecting the button in the centre of the screen as quickly as possible. The level of difficulty varies with either one- or three-target sequences that the participant must watch for at the same time. The average accuracy throughout the task will be analyzed.

CWIT has the standard color naming, word reading, and color-word interference trials,in addition to additional trial requiring the examinee to switch between inhibitory and non-inhibitory responses. Process measures enable assessment of general difficulties. Condition 1: Color Naming, Condition 2: Word Reading, Condition 3: Inhibition, Condition 4: Inhibition/ Switching requires adequate naming speed, reading speed, verbal inhibition, and cognitive flexibility.and Scores will include the time needed to complete each condition, the number of errors and the number of self-corrected errors

Participants are shown a series of numbers on the screen and are asked to enter the number they saw two numbers ago. The outcome measures are correct detection and reaction times.