EEG (electroencephalography) measurement of brainwaves shows which areas of the brain process and modulate pain. © romaset/stock.adobe.com

EEG (electroencephalography) measurement of brainwaves shows which areas of the brain process and modulate pain. © romaset/stock.adobe.com

How does the prefrontal cortex process expectations of pain?

The prefrontal cortex (frontal lobe) controls anxiety, reason and self-control. It also plays an important role in the sensation of pain. This project investigates how expectation of pain influences this region of the brain in particular and how the prefrontal cortex interacts with other areas of the brain for this purpose. Can neurofeedback change expectation-induced brain activity?

Prefrontal mechanisms of positive and negative expectation effects on pain: a combined EEG and fMRI study

This study uses a combination of EEG (electroencephalography) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) measurements to investigate pain-related prefrontal mechanisms during the pre-stimulus period in participants with positive and negative treatment expectations. It focuses on connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and areas of pain processing and modulation. Direct feedback of neural activity (brain-computer interface) will be used to investigate the causal role of the (dorsolateral) prefrontal cortex and its interaction with downstream pain-modulating mechanisms in an expectation-induced pain modulation model.

Recommended reading:

Rose M, Haider H, Salari N, Büchel C (2011) Functional Dissociation of Hippocampal Mechanism during Implicit Learning Based on the Domain of Associations. J Neurosci 31(39):13739-45. PubMed

Salari N, Rose M (2016) Dissociation of the functional relevance of different pre- stimulus oscillatory activity for memory formation. NeuroImage S1053-8119(15)00948-9. PubMed

Salari N, Rose M (2014) Neurofeedback training of gamma band oscillations improves perceptual processing. Exp Brain Res 232(10):3353-61. PubMed

Taesler P, Rose M (2016) Pre-stimulus theta oscillations and connectivity modulate pain perception. J Neurosci 36(18): 5026-5033. PubMed

In close cooperation with these projects

A01

A01

A02

A02

A07

A07

How do positive expectations improve mood?

Prof. Dr. Erik M. Müller
Prof. Dr. Dominik M. Endres

A08

A08

Do positive expectations improve the effect of antidepressants?

Prof. Dr. Tilo Kircher
PD Dr. Irina Falkenberg

Project Lead

Prof. Dr. Michael Rose

Prof. Dr. Michael Rose
Psychologist

Team

Christoph Wittkamp
PhD Student, Psychologist

Maren-Isabel Wolf
PhD Student, Psychologist