Journal Article

Dissociating Pain from Its Anticipation in the Human Brain

Clare, Stuart, Menon, Ravi S., Matthews, Paul M., J. Nicholas P. Rawlins, Tracey, Irene, Ploghaus, Alexander, Gati, Joseph S.

1999

Overview

The experience of pain is subjectively different from the fear and anxiety caused by threats of pain. Functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy humans was applied to dissociate neural activation patterns associated with acute pain and its anticipation. Expectation of pain activated sites within the medial frontal lobe, insular cortex, and cerebellum distinct from, but close to, locations mediating pain experience itself. Anticipation of pain can in its own right cause mood changes and behavioral adaptations that exacerbate the suffering experienced by chronic pain patients. Selective manipulations of activity at these sites may offer therapeutic possibilities for treating chronic pain.

• Publisher: American Society for the Advancement of Science,American Association for the Advancement of Science,The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subject: Adult / Anticipation / Anxiety - physiopathology / Biological and medical sciences / Brain / Brain - physiology / Brain Mapping / Cerebellum / Cerebellum - physiology / Cerebral Cortex - physiology / Chronic pain / Cognition & reasoning / Coordinate systems / Cues / Expectation / Female / Frontal lobe / Frontal Lobe - physiology / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Humans / Light / Light emitting diodes / Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Male / Mental stimulation / Pain / Pain - physiopathology / Pain - psychology / Pain Measurement / Perception - physiology / Somesthesis and somesthetic pathways (proprioception, exteroception, nociception); interoception; electrolocation. Sensory receptors / Stimuli / Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs