How does the prefrontal cortex process expectations of pain?

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