Data for Electrophysiological markers for anticipatory processing of nocebo-augmented pain
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ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens (human)
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PROVIDER: S-BSST1144 | biostudies-other |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:Nocebo effects on pain are widely thought to be driven by negative expectations. This suggests that anticipatory processing, or some other form of top-down cognitive activity prior to the experience of pain, takes place to form sensory-augmenting expectations. However, little is known about the neural markers of anticipatory processing for nocebo effects. In this event-related potential study on healthy participants (n = 42), we tested whether anticipatory processing for classically conditioned nocebo-augmented pain differed from pain without nocebo augmentation using stimulus preceding negativity (SPN), and Granger Causality (GC). SPN is a slow-wave ERP component thought to measure top-down processing, and GC is a multivariate time series analysis used to measure functional connectivity between brain regions. Fear of pain was assessed with the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-III and tested for correlation with SPN and GC metrics. We found evidence that both anticipatory processing measured with SPN and functional connectivity from frontal to temporoparietal brain regions measured with GC were increased for nocebo pain stimuli relative to control pain stimuli. Other GC node pairs did not yield significant effects, and a lag in the timing of nocebo pain stimuli limited interpretation of the results. No correlations with trait fear of pain measured after the conditioning procedure were detected, indicating that while differences in neural activity could be detected between the anticipation of nocebo and control pain trials, they likely were not related to fear. These results highlight the role that top-down processes play in augmenting sensory perception based on negative expectations before sensation occurs.
| S-EPMC10370880 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Vulvodynia (VVD) is a chronic pain disorder wherein women display sensitivity to evoked stimuli at the vulva and/or spontaneous vulvar pain. Our previous work suggests generalized hyperalgesia in this population; however, little is known about central neurobiological factors that may influence pain in VVD. Here we investigated local (vulvar) and remote (thumb) pressure-evoked pain processing in 24 VVD patients compared to 13 age-matched, pain-free healthy controls (HCs). As a positive control we also examined thumb pressure pain in 24 fibromyalgia patients. The VVD and fibromyalgia patients displayed overlapping insular brain activations that were greater than HCs in response to thumb stimulation (P < .005 corrected). Compared to HCs, VVD participants displayed greater levels of activation during thumb stimulation within the insula, dorsal midcingulate, posterior cingulate, and thalamus (P < .005 corrected). Significant differences between VVD subgroups (primary versus secondary and provoked versus unprovoked) were seen within the posterior cingulate with thumb stimulation and within the precuneus region with vulvar stimulation (provoked versus unprovoked only). The augmented brain activation in VVD patients in response to a stimulus remote from the vulva suggests central neural pathology in this disorder. Moreover, differing central activity between VVD subgroups suggests heterogeneous pathologies within this diagnosis.The presence of augmented brain responses to pressure stimuli remote from the vulva was observed in vulvodynia patients. These findings may guide treatment decisions for better response, as brain mechanisms may be a factor in some VVD patients.
| S-EPMC3672331 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionPain plays a fundamental role in the well-being of the individual, and its semantic content may have specific properties compared to other negative domains (i.e., fear and anger) which allows the cognitive system to detect it with priority. Considering the influence of the affective context in which stimuli (targets) are evaluated, it is possible that their valence could be differentially processed if preceded by negative stimuli (primes) associated with pain than negative stimuli not associated with pain. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of the implicit processing of words with pain content by using an affective priming paradigm.MethodsEvent-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants were presented with positive and negative word targets (not associated with pain) that were preceded by positive, negative (not associated with pain), and pain word primes. Participants were asked to judge the valence of the target word.ResultsResults showed faster reaction times (RTs) in congruent conditions, especially when the negative target was preceded by a pain prime rather than a positive one. ERPs analyses showed no effect of pain at an early-stage processing (N400), but a larger waveform when the pain prime preceded the positive prime on the LPP.DiscussionThese results reaffirm the importance that valence has in establishing the priority with which stimuli are encoded in the environment and highlight the role that pain has in the processing of stimuli, supporting the hypothesis according to which the valence and the semantics of a stimulus interact with each other generating a specific response for each type of emotion.
| S-EPMC10516560 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Placebo analgesia makes individuals experience relief of their pain simply by virtue of the anticipation of a benefit. A reduction of pain can occur also when placebos follow the administration of active and effective painkillers. In fact, studies indicate that placebos mimic the action of active treatments and promote the endogenous release of opioids in both humans and animals. Finally, social support and observational learning also lead to analgesic effects. Thus, different psychological factors and situations induce expectations of analgesia facilitating the activation of the top-down systems for pain control along with the release of endogenous mediators crucially involved in placebo-induced benefits. Recent scientific investigation in the field of brain imaging is opening new avenues to understanding the cognitive mechanisms and neurobiological substrates of expectation-induced pain modulation. Gaining deeper knowledge of top-down mechanisms of pain modulation has enormous implications for personalizing and optimizing pain management.
| S-EPMC4142751 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIn a typical electrophysiological experiment, especially one that includes studying animal behavior, the data collected normally contain spikes, local field potentials, behavioral responses and other associated data. In order to obtain informative results, the data must be analyzed simultaneously with the experimental settings. However, most open-source toolboxes currently available for data analysis were developed to handle only a portion of the data and did not take into account the sorting of experimental conditions. Additionally, these toolboxes require that the input data be in a specific format, which can be inconvenient to users. Therefore, the development of a highly integrated toolbox that can process multiple types of data regardless of input data format and perform basic analysis for general electrophysiological experiments is incredibly useful.ResultsHere, we report the development of a Python based open-source toolbox, referred to as NeoAnalysis, to be used for quick electrophysiological data processing and analysis. The toolbox can import data from different data acquisition systems regardless of their formats and automatically combine different types of data into a single file with a standardized format. In cases where additional spike sorting is needed, NeoAnalysis provides a module to perform efficient offline sorting with a user-friendly interface. Then, NeoAnalysis can perform regular analog signal processing, spike train, and local field potentials analysis, behavioral response (e.g. saccade) detection and extraction, with several options available for data plotting and statistics. Particularly, it can automatically generate sorted results without requiring users to manually sort data beforehand. In addition, NeoAnalysis can organize all of the relevant data into an informative table on a trial-by-trial basis for data visualization. Finally, NeoAnalysis supports analysis at the population level.ConclusionsWith the multitude of general-purpose functions provided by NeoAnalysis, users can easily obtain publication-quality figures without writing complex codes. NeoAnalysis is a powerful and valuable toolbox for users doing electrophysiological experiments.
| S-EPMC5683334 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We employed an electroencephalography paradigm manipulating predictive context to dissociate the neural dynamics of anticipatory mechanisms. Subjects either detected random targets or targets preceded by a predictive sequence of three distinct stimuli. The last stimulus in the three-stimulus sequence (decisive stimulus) did not require any motor response but 100% predicted a subsequent target event. We showed that predictive context optimises target processing via the deployment of distinct anticipatory mechanisms at different times of the predictive sequence. Prior to the occurrence of the decisive stimulus, enhanced attentional preparation was manifested by reductions in the alpha oscillatory activities over the visual cortices, resulting in facilitation of processing of the decisive stimulus. Conversely, the subsequent 100% predictable target event did not reveal the deployment of attentional preparation in the visual cortices, but elicited enhanced motor preparation mechanisms, indexed by an increased contingent negative variation and reduced mu oscillatory activities over the motor cortices before movement onset. The present results provide evidence that anticipation operates via different attentional and motor preparation mechanisms by selectively pre-activating task-dependent brain areas as the predictability gradually increases.
| S-EPMC3463677 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionResearch on learning in placebo and nocebo has relied predominantly on Pavlovian conditioning procedures. Operant learning procedures may more accurately model learning in real-life situations in which placebo and nocebo effects occur.ObjectivesTo investigate the development and persistence of placebo and nocebo effects using an operant avoidance learning task.MethodsPain-free participants (n = 58) could learn to avoid pain by performing movements that differed in difficulty and intensity of painful stimulation. Participants performed movements in 2 contexts. In the high cost of avoidance context, pain stimulus intensity reduced with increasing movement difficulty. In the low cost of avoidance context, contingencies were reversed. Participants rated pain expectations and pain intensity. During test, movement difficulties were unchanged, but participants always received a medium-intensity pain stimulus. Placebo and nocebo effects were defined as lower/higher pain intensity ratings for trajectories that previously resulted in low/high-intensity compared with medium-intensity stimulation.ResultsAs expected, participants acquired differential movement-pain expectations and differential movement choices. Testing with a medium-intensity pain stimulus quickly erased differences in movement choice across contexts, but differences in pain expectations were maintained. Pain modulation across context was in line with movement-pain expectations. However, we only observed placebo effects within the low cost of avoidance context and found no evidence of nocebo effects.ConclusionOperant learning can change pain expectations, pain modulation, and pain-related avoidance behavior. Persisting pain expectations suggest that acquired pain beliefs may be resistant to disconfirmation, despite self-initiated experience with novel pain-movement contingencies.
| S-EPMC6749895 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The importance of understanding how we anticipate and prepare for social rejection is underscored by the mental and physical toll of continual social vigilance. In this study, we investigate the impact of social rejection on anticipatory attentional processes using the well-known Cyberball task, a paradigm in which participants engage in a game of catch with virtual avatars who after an initial period of fair-play (inclusion condition) then exclude the participant from the game (exclusion condition). The degree of anticipatory attention allocated by subjects towards the avatars was assessed by measuring P3b responses towards the avatars' preparatory actions (i.e. the phase preceding their exclusionary actions) using high density EEG. The results of the study show that relative to the inclusion, participants exhibit elevated levels of anticipatory attentional allocation towards the avatars during the exclusion block. This shift was however significantly moderated by participants' self-reported cognitive regulation tendencies. Participants with higher levels of self-reported cognitive reappraisal tendencies showed larger anticipatory P3b increases from the inclusion to exclusion block relative to participants with reduced levels of reappraisal tendencies. These results highlight the impact of social exclusion on anticipatory neural processing and the moderating role of cognitive reappraisal on these effects.
| S-EPMC10859167 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study aimed to identify electrophysiological correlates of nocebo-augmented pain. Nocebo hyperalgesia (i.e., increases in perceived pain resulting from negative expectations) has been found to impact how healthy and patient populations experience pain and is a phenomenon that could be better understood in terms of its neurophysiological underpinnings. In this study, nocebo hyperalgesia was induced in 36 healthy participants through classical conditioning and negative suggestions. Electroencephalography was recorded during rest (pre- and post-acquisition) and during pain stimulation (baseline, acquisition, evocation) First, participants received baseline high thermal pain stimulations. During nocebo acquisition, participants learned to associate an inert gel applied to their forearm with administered high pain stimuli, relative to moderate intensity control stimuli administered without gel. During evocation, all stimuli were accompanied by moderate pain, to measure nocebo responses to the inert gel. Pre- to post-acquisition beta-band alterations in long-range temporal correlations (LRTC) were negatively associated with nocebo magnitudes. Individuals with strong resting LRTC showed larger nocebo responses than those with weaker LRTC. Nocebo acquisition trials showed reduced alpha power. Alpha power was higher while LRTC were lower during nocebo-augmented pain, compared to baseline. These findings support nocebo learning theories and highlight a role of nocebo-induced cognitive processing.
| S-EPMC8105329 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The thermal grill illusion (TGI) is assumed to result from crosstalk between the thermoreceptive and nociceptive pathways. To elucidate this further, we compared 40 female fibromyalgia patients to 20 healthy women in an exploratory cross-sectional study. Sensations (cold, warm/heat, unpleasantness, pain and burning) evoked by 20 °C, 40 °C and alternating 20 °C/40 °C (TGI) and somatosensory profiles according to standardized quantitative sensory testing (QST) were assessed on the palm of the dominant hand. Compared to healthy controls, fibromyalgia patients reported stronger thermal grill-evoked cold, warm, unpleasantness and pain as well as stronger and more aversive 20 °C- and 40 °C-evoked sensations. They showed a loss in warm, mechanical and vibration detection, a gain in thermal pain thresholds and higher temporal summation (TS). Among QST parameters higher TS in fibromyalgia patients was most consistently associated with an augmented TGI. Independently, an increased TGI was linked to cold (20 °C) but less to warm (40 °C) perception. In fibromyalgia patients all thermal grill-evoked sensations were positively related to a higher 20 °C-evoked cold sensation and/or 20 °C-evoked unpleasantness. In conclusion, the TGI appears to be driven mainly by the cold-input. Aversive cold processing and central pain facilitation in fibromyalgia patients seem to independently augment the activation of the pain pathway.
| S-EPMC10520026 | biostudies-literature