Pain is an evolutionary alarm signal that captures attention and,

therefore, interferes with cognitive functioning. Nevertheless, there is

substantial variability between and within persons in how pain affects

performance on cognitive tasks, that is difficult to explain by available

theoretical models. Often ignored in these models is that human

beings are not passive receivers of internal and external stimuli, but

active decision-makers. That is, based upon a continuous and

dynamic weighting of possible costs (expected effort) and benefits

(anticipated reward), they decide to either exert effort or not in

function of ongoing goal pursuit. The current project aims examining

how pain influences this cost-benefit analysis, effort-based decisionmaking

processes and, consequently, fluctuations in cognitive task

performance. For this purpose, knowledge from research domains on

pain-cognition interaction, motivation, and effort-based decisionmaking,

are integrated into a novel theoretical framework, generating

new hypotheses, and explaining inconsistent findings in previous

research. Behavioral, electrophysiological, and psychophysiological

methods are adopted to allow a comprehensive view on how effortbased

processes during cognitive task performance are affected by

acute (experimental) and chronic pain. It is expected that the project

will significantly advance understanding of pain-related cognitive

interference and will provide new routes for interventions.