Background and aims
Neuroimaging studies have shown that a simultaneous cognitive task reduces pain-related brain activity, while increasing prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation. Little is known about the analgesic effect of distraction in older adults. Because of its reliance on attentional resources, and its modulation by the PFC, we expected distraction to be less efficient at reducing pain with increasing age. Our aim was to investigate the influence of aging on task-related analgesia, and explore its neural mechanisms. 

Methods
So far, 25 young (M = 26.40yrs) and 25 older (M = 69.12yrs) participants took part. fMRI images were acquired during a pain distraction paradigm. Painful and non-painful heat stimuli were delivered to the lower arm, while participants engaged in either an easy (0-back) or an adaptive difficult (2-back) cognitive task. Participants rated the intensity and unpleasantness of the thermal stimuli on a computerized VAS. 

Results
Preliminary results indicate that young participants show a larger reduction in neural activity in a network of regions involved in pain processing during the difficult distraction task when compared to older participants. Moreover, results indicate that young participants showed a stronger recruitment of the periaqueductal gray during the distraction condition than older participants. 

Conclusions
These preliminary results suggest age-related differences in distraction from pain on the neural level. This reduced distraction effect may result from age-related PFC atrophy and declining attentional/executive resources. Demonstrating impaired top-down cognitive control of pain in older people has important consequences for pain management strategies.

THE DESTRUCTION OF DISTRACTION? NEURAL MECHANISMS OF REDUCED TASK-RELATED ANALGESIA WITH AGING