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Duration of the cue-to-pain delay increases pain intensity: a combined EEG and MEG study

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Abstract

Expectation of pain is an important adaptive process enabling individuals to avoid bodily harm. It reflects the linking of past experience and environmental cues with imminent threat. In the present study, we examined changes in perceived pain contingent upon variation of the interval between an auditory cue and a subsequent painful laser stimulus. The duration of the cue-to-stimulus delay was systematically varied between 2, 4 and 6 s. Pain intensity and evoked brain responses measured by EEG and MEG recordings were analysed. Pain ratings from 15 subjects increased with longer cue-to-pain delays, accompanied by an increase in activity of the midcingulate cortex (MCC), as modelled from evoked EEG potential maps. On the other hand, MEG-based source activity in secondary somatosensory (SII) cortex remained unaffected by manipulation of the cue-to-stimulus interval. We conclude that activity in limbic structures such as MCC play a key role in the temporal dynamics of recruitment of expectation towards pain. Although this reaction is adaptive if the individual is able to avoid the stimulus, it is maladaptive if such opportunity is not present.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany

    Michael Hauck, Roger Zimmermann, Eckehard Scharein & Andreas K. Engel

  2. Faculty of Life Sciences, Laboratory of Human Biology and Physiology, Applied Science University, Hamburg, Germany

    Jürgen Lorenz

  3. MRC Institute of Hearing Research Southampton, Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton, UK

    Stefan Debener

  4. School of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Stefan Debener

Authors
  1. Michael Hauck
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  2. Jürgen Lorenz
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  3. Roger Zimmermann
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  4. Stefan Debener
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  5. Eckehard Scharein
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  6. Andreas K. Engel
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Correspondence to Michael Hauck.

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Hauck, M., Lorenz, J., Zimmermann, R. et al. Duration of the cue-to-pain delay increases pain intensity: a combined EEG and MEG study. Exp Brain Res 180, 205–215 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-0863-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-0863-x

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