Valentini, Elia and Halder, Sebastian and McInnerney, Daisy and Cooke, Jason and Gyimes, Istvan L and Romei, Vincenzo (2022) Assessing the specificity of the relationship between brain alpha oscillations and tonic pain. NeuroImage, 255. p. 119143. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119143
Valentini, Elia and Halder, Sebastian and McInnerney, Daisy and Cooke, Jason and Gyimes, Istvan L and Romei, Vincenzo (2022) Assessing the specificity of the relationship between brain alpha oscillations and tonic pain. NeuroImage, 255. p. 119143. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119143
Valentini, Elia and Halder, Sebastian and McInnerney, Daisy and Cooke, Jason and Gyimes, Istvan L and Romei, Vincenzo (2022) Assessing the specificity of the relationship between brain alpha oscillations and tonic pain. NeuroImage, 255. p. 119143. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119143
Abstract
Recent research proposed that the slowing of individual alpha frequency (IAF) could be an objective marker of pain. However, it is unclear whether this research can fully address the requirements of specificity and sensitivity of IAF to the pain experience. Here, we sought to develop a robust methodology for assessing the specificity of the relationship between alpha oscillations and acute tonic pain in healthy individuals. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) of 36 volunteers during consecutive 5-minute sessions of painful hot water immersion, innocuous warm water immersion and aversive, non-painful auditory stimulus, matched by unpleasantness to the painful condition. Participants rated stimulus unpleasantness throughout each condition. We isolated two regions of the scalp displaying peak alpha activity across participants: centro-parietal (CP) and parieto-occipital (PO) ROI. In line with previous research our findings revealed decreased IAF during hot compared with warm stimulation, however the effect was not specific for pain as we found no difference between hot and sound in the CP ROI (compared to baseline). In contrast, the PO ROI reported the same pattern of differences, but their direction was opposite to the CP in that this ROI revealed faster frequency during hot condition than controls. Finally, we show that IAF in both ROIs did not mediate the relationship between the experimental manipulation and the affective experience. Altogether, these findings emphasize the importance of a robust methodological and analytical design to disclose the functional role of alpha oscillations during affective processing. Likewise, they suggest the absence of a causal role of IAF in the generation of acute pain experience in healthy individuals.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Alpha; Brain; EEG; IAF; Pain; Unpleasantness |
Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Health Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Science and Health > Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, School of Faculty of Science and Health > Psychology, Department of Faculty of Social Sciences > UK Data Archive |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 11 Apr 2022 11:00 |
Last Modified: | 30 Oct 2024 19:33 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/32703 |
Available files
Filename: ValentiniEtAl_tonic_NIMG_22.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0