The relations among body consciousness, somatic symptom report, and information processing speed in chronic fatigue syndrome.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the potential influence of body consciousness and levels of somatic symptom report upon information processing speed in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). BACKGROUND According to a model of a fixed information processing capacity, it was predicted that in a group of patients with CFS, high body consciousness in combination with a high report of somatic symptoms would affect information-processing speed negatively. METHODS Information- and motor-processing speed were simultaneously measured with a simple- and a choice-reaction time task, whereas cognitive complaints were rated with two questionnaires. The hypothesized influence of private body consciousness and somatic symptom report upon information-processing speed was tested in a model. A symptom-validity test was used to screen for possible illness behavior. RESULTS Private body consciousness was directly related to information-processing speed and somatic symptom report. Somatic symptom report was related to both test performance and memory and concentration complaints. CONCLUSIONS Levels of private body consciousness directly affected somatic symptom report and information-processing speed. This finding supports the role of attentive processes in CFS, and offers, besides possible cerebral dysfunction, an alternative explanation for slowing of information processing in CFS.