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ENeuro 2018Pain serves vital protective functions, which crucially depend on appropriate motor responses to noxious stimuli. Such responses not only depend on but can themselves...
Pain serves vital protective functions, which crucially depend on appropriate motor responses to noxious stimuli. Such responses not only depend on but can themselves shape the perception of pain. In chronic pain, perception is often decoupled from noxious stimuli and motor responses are no longer protective, which suggests that the relationships between noxious stimuli, pain perception, and behavior might be changed. We here performed a simple experiment to quantitatively assess the relationships between noxious stimuli, perception and behavior in 22 chronic pain patients and 22 age-matched healthy human participants. Brief noxious and tactile stimuli were applied to the participants' hands and participants performed speeded motor responses and provided perceptual ratings of the stimuli. Multi-level moderated mediation analyses assessed the relationships between stimulus intensity, perceptual ratings and reaction times for both stimulus types. The results revealed a significantly stronger involvement of motor responses in the translation of noxious stimuli into perception than in the translation of tactile stimuli into perception. This significant influence of motor responses on pain perception was found for both chronic pain patients and healthy participants. Thus, stimulus-perception-behavior relationships appear to be at least partially preserved in chronic pain patients and motor-related as well as behavioral interventions might harness these functional relationships to modulate pain perception.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Chronic Pain; Female; Hot Temperature; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Motor Activity; Pain Perception; Physical Stimulation; Reaction Time; Touch
PubMed: 30713993
DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0290-18.2018 -
Pain Mar 2024This study aimed to characterize the sensory responses observed when electrically stimulating the white matter surrounding the posterior insula and medial operculum... (Review)
Review
This study aimed to characterize the sensory responses observed when electrically stimulating the white matter surrounding the posterior insula and medial operculum (PIMO). We reviewed patients operated on under awake conditions for a glioma located in the temporoparietal junction. Patients' perceptions were retrieved from operative reports. Stimulation points were registered in the Montreal Neurological Institute template. A total of 12 stimulation points in 8 patients were analyzed. Painful sensations in the contralateral leg were reported (5 sites in 5 patients) when stimulating the white matter close to the parcel OP2/3 of the Glasser atlas. Pain had diverse qualities: burning, tingling, crushing, or electric shock. More laterally, in the white matter of OP1, pain and heat sensations in the upper part of the body were described (5 sites in 2 patients). Intermingled with these sites, vibration sensations were also reported (3 sites in 2 patients). Based on the tractograms of 44 subjects from the Human Connectome Project data set, we built a template of the pathways linking the thalamus to OP2/3 and OP1. Pain sites were located in the thalamo-OP2/3 and thalamo-OP1 tracts. Heat sites were located in the thalamo-OP1 tract. In the 227 awake surgeries performed for a tumor located outside of the PIMO region, no patients ever reported pain or heat sensations when stimulating the white matter. Thus, we propose that the thalamo-PIMO connections constitute the main cortical inputs for nociception and thermoception and emphasize that preserving these fibers is of utmost importance to prevent the postoperative onset of a debilitating insulo-opercular pain syndrome.
Topics: Humans; White Matter; Hot Temperature; Vibration; Pain; Pain Perception; Thermosensing; Electric Stimulation Therapy; Brain Mapping
PubMed: 37862047
DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003069 -
Neural Plasticity 2020Electroacupuncture (EA) can effectively modulate pain perception and pain-related negative affect; however, we do not know whether the effect of EA on sensation and...
Electroacupuncture (EA) can effectively modulate pain perception and pain-related negative affect; however, we do not know whether the effect of EA on sensation and affect is parallel, or dissociated, interactional. In this study, we observed the effects of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) lesion and the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) activation on pain perception, pain-related affection, and neural oscillation in S1. ACC lesions did not affect pain perception but relieved pain-paired aversion. S1 activation increased pain perception and anxious behavior. EA can mitigate pain perception regardless of whether there is an ACC lesion. Chronic pain may increase the delta and theta band oscillatory activity in the S1 brain region and decrease the oscillatory activity in the alpha, beta, and gamma bands. EA intervention may inhibit the oscillatory activity of the alpha and beta bands. These results suggest that EA may mitigate chronic pain by relieving pain perception and reducing pain-related affection through different mechanisms. This evidence builds upon findings from previous studies of chronic pain and EA treatment.
Topics: Affect; Animals; Electroacupuncture; Gyrus Cinguli; Male; Pain Perception; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Somatosensory Cortex
PubMed: 33123189
DOI: 10.1155/2020/8865096 -
NeuroImage May 2013The nature of interactions between observing pain in others (other-pain) and subjective pain perception (self-pain) has been debated. To test whether other-pain and...
The nature of interactions between observing pain in others (other-pain) and subjective pain perception (self-pain) has been debated. To test whether other-pain and self-pain primes increase or decrease responsiveness to complementary self-pain or other-pain targets, two ERP studies were conducted. In Study 1, twenty participants (10 women, 10 men) were exposed to pictures depicting other-pain or other non-painful situations, followed by self-pain or non-nociceptive heat stimulation delivered to the forearm. Significant visual prime×sensory target interactions indicated that compared to other non-painful primes, other-pain visual primes predicted faster reaction times (RTs) and smaller P2 amplitudes in response to self-pain stimuli while responses to self-heat stimuli were not affected by priming images. However, effects of other-pain primes on elevations in intensity ratings were not specific to self-pain and extended to self-heat targets. In Study 2, self-pain and self-heat stimuli were applied to the same participants followed by other-pain and other non-painful visual targets. Similar to the pattern for Study 1, sensory prime×visual target interactions indicated that compared to self-heat primes, self-pain sensory primes predicted marginally faster RTs and smaller P3 amplitudes in response to other-pain targets while responses to other non-painful targets were unaffected by sensory priming stimuli. Again, self-pain primes predicted higher intensity ratings for both target types compared to self-heat primes. Together, findings supported the shared-representation model of pain empathy more strongly than the threat value of pain hypothesis.
Topics: Adolescent; Brain; Electroencephalography; Empathy; Evoked Potentials; Female; Humans; Male; Pain Perception; Reaction Time; Young Adult
PubMed: 23376492
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.01.024 -
Psychological Reports Jun 2019Research indicates that women are more susceptible to pain than men, but the reason for this difference is unclear. While estrogen and progesterone have been implicated,...
Research indicates that women are more susceptible to pain than men, but the reason for this difference is unclear. While estrogen and progesterone have been implicated, testosterone has not received adequate consideration in the literature. Additionally, incorporating behavioral expressions, or exaggerations, of pain as an important aspect of pain perception is receiving increasing attention. The current study examined the role of testosterone in female pain expression and perception via the cold pressor test. Following all participant exclusions, 46 healthy participants (32 women) provided saliva samples for testosterone analysis using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before and after rating their pain during the cold pressor test. Participants used a visual analog scale to indicate how the 2℃ water was perceived, ranging from "worst pain imaginable" to "no pain." The researcher also noted whether a participant displayed overt behavioral expressions of pain such as jumping and cursing. The results revealed that men reported lower visual analog scale scores than women, indicating less perceived pain. A subgroup of women who displayed overt behavioral responses to pain seemed to be driving this sex/gender difference. It was expected that this subgroup of females would have corresponding changes in testosterone that would further explain the observed sex/gender differences, but this was not supported. Collectively, these data add to the previous literature investigating sex/gender differences in pain perception and highlight the importance of studying overt behavioral expressions of pain. Testosterone may alter this behavior and subsequent pain perception, but the contributions of testosterone are likely subtle and were not detected in this study.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Cold Temperature; Female; Humans; Male; Pain; Pain Measurement; Pain Perception; Saliva; Sex Characteristics; Testosterone; Young Adult
PubMed: 29871531
DOI: 10.1177/0033294118781320 -
Pain Medicine (Malden, Mass.) Mar 2022Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) can discriminate between healthy and chronic pain patients. However, its relationship with neurophysiological pain mechanisms is poorly...
UNLABELLED
Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) can discriminate between healthy and chronic pain patients. However, its relationship with neurophysiological pain mechanisms is poorly understood. Brain oscillations measured by electroencephalography (EEG) might help gain insight into this complex relationship.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between CPM response and self-reported pain intensity in non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) and explore respective EEG signatures associated to these mechanisms.
DESIGN
Cross-sectional analysis.
PARTICIPANTS
Thirty NSCLBP patients participated.
METHODS
Self-reported low back pain, questionnaires, mood scales, CPM (static and dynamic quantitative sensory tests), and resting surface EEG data were collected and analyzed. Linear regression models were used for statistical analysis.
RESULTS
CPM was not significantly correlated with self-reported pain intensity scores. Relative power of EEG in the beta and high beta bands as recorded from the frontal, central, and parietal cortical areas were significantly associated with CPM. EEG relative power at delta and theta bands as recorded from the central area were significantly correlated with self-reported pain intensity scores while controlling for self-reported depression.
CONCLUSIONS
Faster EEG frequencies recorded from pain perception areas may provide a signature of a potential cortical compensation caused by chronic pain states. Slower EEG frequencies may have a critical role in abnormal pain processing.
Topics: Chronic Pain; Cross-Sectional Studies; Electroencephalography; Humans; Low Back Pain; Pain Perception; Pain Threshold
PubMed: 34633449
DOI: 10.1093/pm/pnab293 -
Perceptual and Motor Skills Oct 2023The application of a noxious stimulus reduces the perception of other noxious stimuli, which can be assessed by an experimental method called "counterirritation." The...
The application of a noxious stimulus reduces the perception of other noxious stimuli, which can be assessed by an experimental method called "counterirritation." The question arises whether this type of inhibition also affects the processing of other aversive (but not nociceptive) stimuli, such as loud tones. If aversiveness or, in other words, negative emotional valence qualifies a stimulus to be affected by counterirritation, the general emotional context may also play a role in modulating counterirritation effects. We involved 63 participants in this study ( age = 38.8, = 10.5 years; 33 males, 30 females). We tried to counterirritate their perceptual and startle reactions to aversively loud tones (105 db) by immersing the hand into a painful hot water bath (46°C) in two emotional valence conditions (i.e., a neutral and a negative valence block in which we showed either neutral pictures or pictures of burn wounds). We assessed Inhibition by loudness ratings and startle reflex amplitudes. Counterirritation significantly reduced both loudness ratings and startle reflex amplitudes. The emotional context manipulation did not affect this clear inhibitory effect, showing that counterirritation by a noxious stimulus affects aversive sensations not induced by nociceptive stimuli. Thus, the assumption that "pain inhibits pain" should be widened to "pain inhibits the processing of aversive stimuli." This broadened understanding of counterirritation leads to a questioning of the postulate of clear pain specificity in paradigms like "conditioned pain modulation" (CPM) or "diffuse noxious inhibitory controls" (DNIC).
Topics: Male; Female; Humans; Adult; Pain; Emotions; Affect; Perception; Pain Perception
PubMed: 37340659
DOI: 10.1177/00315125231183604 -
Scientific Reports Jul 2019Perception of sensory stimulation is influenced by numerous psychological variables. One example is placebo analgesia, where expecting low pain causes a painful stimulus...
Perception of sensory stimulation is influenced by numerous psychological variables. One example is placebo analgesia, where expecting low pain causes a painful stimulus to feel less painful. Yet, because pain evolved to signal threats to survival, it should be maladaptive for highly-erroneous expectations to yield unrealistic pain experiences. Therefore, we hypothesised that a cue followed by a highly discrepant stimulus intensity, which generates a large prediction error, will have a weaker influence on the perception of that stimulus. To test this hypothesis we collected two independent pain-cueing datasets. The second dataset and the analysis plan were preregistered ( https://osf.io/5r6z7/ ). Regression modelling revealed that reported pain intensities were best explained by a quartic polynomial model of the prediction error. The results indicated that the influence of cues on perceived pain decreased when stimulus intensity was very different from expectations, suggesting that prediction error size has an immediate functional role in pain perception.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Cues; Databases, Factual; Female; Humans; Male; Models, Statistical; Pain Perception; Photic Stimulation; Young Adult
PubMed: 31263144
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45811-x -
Sleep Medicine May 2018Although night-shift work (NSW) is associated with a higher risk for several physical and mental disorders, the impact of NSW on pain perception is still unclear. This...
BACKGROUND
Although night-shift work (NSW) is associated with a higher risk for several physical and mental disorders, the impact of NSW on pain perception is still unclear. This study investigates the impact of NSW on cold pain perception considering the impact of mood and sleepiness.
METHOD
Quantitative sensory testing (QST) was performed in healthy night-shift workers. Cold pain threshold as well as tonic cold pain was assessed after one habitual night (T1), after a 12-hour NSW (T2) and after one recovery night (T3). Sleep quality was measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) before T1, sleepiness with the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) and mood with a German short-version of the Profile of Mood States (ASTS) at T1, T2 and T3. Depending on the distribution of the data, ANOVAs or Friedman tests as well as t- or Wilcoxon tests were performed.
RESULTS
Nineteen healthy shift-workers (13 females; 29.7 ± 7.5 years old; 8.1 ± 6.6 years in shift work, PSQI: 4.7 ± 2.2) were included. Tonic cold pain showed a significant difference between T1 (48.2 ± 27.5 mm), T2 (61.7 ± 26.6 mm; effect size: Cohen's d=.49; percent change 28%), and T3 (52.1 ± 28.7 mm) on a 0-100 mm Visual Analog Scale (p = 0.007). Cold pain threshold changed from 11.0 ± 7.9 °C (T1) to 14.5 ± 8.8 °C (T2) (p = 0.04), however, an ANOVA comparing T1, T2, and T3 was not significant (p = 0.095). Sleepiness (SSS) and mood (ASTS) changed significantly between T1, T2 and T3 (p-values < 0.01). The change of mood but not of sleepiness correlated with the difference in tonic cold pain from T1 to T2 (R: 0.53; R: 0.29; p = 0.022).
DISCUSSION
NSW increases cold pain perception. The same tonic cold pain stimulus is rated 28% more painful after NSW and normalizes after a recovery night. Increases in cold pain perception due to NSW appear to be more strongly related to changes in mood as compared to changes in sleepiness.
Topics: Adult; Affect; Cold Temperature; Female; Humans; Male; Pain Perception; Pain Threshold; Shift Work Schedule; Sleepiness
PubMed: 29680433
DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2017.12.014 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Nov 2019Research in the neuroscience of pain perception and visual perception has taken contrasting paths. The contextual and the social aspects of pain judgements predisposed... (Review)
Review
Research in the neuroscience of pain perception and visual perception has taken contrasting paths. The contextual and the social aspects of pain judgements predisposed pain researchers to develop computational and functional accounts early, while vision researchers tended to simple localizationist or descriptive approaches first. Evolutionary thought was applied to distinct domains, such as game-theoretic approaches to cheater detection in pain research, versus vision scientists' studies of comparative visual ecologies. Both fields now contemplate current motor or decision-based accounts of perception, particularly predictive coding. Vision researchers do so without the benefit of earlier attention to social and motivational aspects of vision, while pain researchers lack a comparative behavioural ecology of pain, the normal incidence and utility of responses to tissue damage. Hybrid hypotheses arising from predictive coding as used in both domains are applied to some perplexing phenomena in pain perception to suggest future directions. The contingent and predictive interpretation of complex sensations, in such domains as 'runner's high', multiple cosmetic procedures, self-harm and circadian rhythms in pain sensitivity is one example. The second, in an evolutionary time frame, considers enhancement of primary perception and expression of pain in social species, when expressions of pain might reliably elicit useful help. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain'.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Neurosciences; Pain Perception; Visual Perception
PubMed: 31544620
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0292