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Temporal-spectral signaling of sensory information and expectations in the cerebral processing of pain

Moritz M. Nickel, Laura Tiemann, Vanessa D. Hohn, Elisabeth S. May, Cristina Gil Ávila, View ORCID ProfileFalk Eippert, View ORCID ProfileMarkus Ploner
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.24.449790
Moritz M. Nickel
1Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany
2TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, TUM, Munich, Germany
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Laura Tiemann
1Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany
2TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, TUM, Munich, Germany
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Vanessa D. Hohn
1Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany
2TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, TUM, Munich, Germany
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Elisabeth S. May
1Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany
2TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, TUM, Munich, Germany
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Cristina Gil Ávila
1Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany
2TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, TUM, Munich, Germany
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Falk Eippert
3Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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Markus Ploner
1Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany
2TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, TUM, Munich, Germany
4Center for Interdisciplinary Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, TUM, Munich, Germany
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  • ORCID record for Markus Ploner
  • For correspondence: markus.ploner@tum.de
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Abstract

The perception of pain is shaped by somatosensory information about threat. However, pain is also influenced by an individual’s expectations. Such expectations can result in clinically relevant modulations and abnormalities of pain. In the brain, sensory information, expectations (predictions), and discrepancies thereof (prediction errors) are signaled by an extended network of brain areas. These brain areas generate evoked potentials and oscillatory responses at different latencies and frequencies. Recent evidence has provided first insights into how oscillatory responses at different frequencies signal predictions and prediction errors. However, a comprehensive picture of how evoked and oscillatory brain responses signal sensory information, predictions, and prediction errors in the processing of pain is lacking so far. We therefore built upon a neuroimaging study which investigated the spatial signalling of sensory information, predictions and predictions errors in the processing of pain (Geuter et al., 2017). To complement and extend this study, we applied brief painful stimuli to 48 healthy human participants and independently modulated sensory information (stimulus intensity) and expectations of pain intensity while measuring brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). Pain ratings confirmed that pain intensity was shaped by both sensory information and expectations. In contrast, Bayesian analyses revealed that stimulus-induced EEG responses at different latencies (the N1, N2, and P2 components) and frequencies (alpha, beta, and gamma oscillations) were shaped by sensory information but not by expectations. Expectations, however, shaped alpha and beta oscillations before the painful stimuli. These findings indicate that commonly analyzed EEG responses to painful stimuli are more involved in signaling sensory information than in signaling expectations or mismatches of sensory information and expectations. Moreover, they indicate that the effects of expectations on pain are served by brain mechanisms which differ from those conveying effects of sensory information on pain.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted June 25, 2021.
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Temporal-spectral signaling of sensory information and expectations in the cerebral processing of pain
Moritz M. Nickel, Laura Tiemann, Vanessa D. Hohn, Elisabeth S. May, Cristina Gil Ávila, Falk Eippert, Markus Ploner
bioRxiv 2021.06.24.449790; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.24.449790
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Temporal-spectral signaling of sensory information and expectations in the cerebral processing of pain
Moritz M. Nickel, Laura Tiemann, Vanessa D. Hohn, Elisabeth S. May, Cristina Gil Ávila, Falk Eippert, Markus Ploner
bioRxiv 2021.06.24.449790; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.24.449790

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