A novel thermoelectric device integrated with a psychophysical paradigm to study pain processing in human subjects

Caston, Rose; Davis, Tyler; Smith, Elliot H.; Rahimpour, Shervin; Rolston, John D.

doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2022.109780

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…EEG can measure brain activity with a better temporal resolution but has limited spatial resolution of deep cerebral structures. Our approach involved acquiring recordings using intracranial stereo-EEG (sEEG) during a psychophysical pain testing paradigm to evaluate temporal changes in numerous regions involved in detecting, processing, and responding to painful stimuli (Caston et al, 2023). We used generalized mixed effects modeling to understand what regions underwent neuronal activations at the beginning of the stimulus, how those regions changed at the end, and how these neuronal activations were related to how the pain was reported.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our research group recently developed and fabricated a thermoelectric device compatible with intracranial electrodes. The device and integrated software have been validated as a psychophysical pain task in healthy human subjects (Caston et al, 2023). The task consists of four main events ( Figure 1A ), which occur in a single trial: 1) The participant places their hand on the device for 10 seconds, 2) the participant removes their hand from the device, 3) the participant responds to whether the trial was perceived as painful, and 4) the participant rates the perceived pain and heat intensity on a scale of 0-10.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Psychophysical Pain Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participants completed at least 20 trials to allow adequate sampling for signal processing. The full description of the psychophysical pain task and its capability is reported elsewhere (Caston et al, 2023).…”

Section: Psychophysical Pain Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Characterization of spatiotemporal dynamics of binary and graded tonic pain in humans using intracranial recordings”

Caston

Smith

Davis

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Pain is a complex experience involving sensory, emotional, and cognitive aspects, and multiple networks manage its processing in the brain. Examining how pain transforms into a behavioral response can shed light on the networks' relationships and facilitate interventions to treat chronic pain. However, studies using high spatial and temporal resolution methods to investigate the neural encoding of pain and its psychophysical correlates have been limited. We recorded from intracranial stereo-EEG (sEEG) electrodes implanted in sixteen different brain regions of twenty patients who underwent psychophysical pain testing consisting of a tonic thermal stimulus to the hand. Broadband high-frequency local field potential amplitude (HFA; 70-150 Hz) was isolated to investigate the relationship between the ongoing neural activity and the resulting psychophysical pain evaluations. Two different generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLME) were employed to assess the neural representations underlying binary and graded pain psychophysics. The first model examined the relationship between HFA and whether the patient responded "yes" or "no" to whether the trial was painful. The second model investigated the relationship between HFA and how painful the stimulus was rated on a visual analog scale. GLMEs revealed that HFA in the inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), and superior temporal gyrus (STG) predicted painful responses at stimulus onset. An increase in HFA in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), SFG, and striatum predicted pain responses at stimulus offset. Numerous regions including the anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, IFG, MTG, OFC, and striatum, predicted the pain rating at stimulus onset. However, only the amygdala and fusiform gyrus predicted increased pain ratings at stimulus offset. We characterized the spatiotemporal representations of binary and graded painful responses during tonic pain stimuli. Our study provides evidence from intracranial recordings that the neural encoding of psychophysical pain changes over time during a tonic thermal stimulus, with different brain regions being predictive of pain at the beginning and end of the stimulus.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Psychophysical Pain Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Psychophysical Pain Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Characterization of spatiotemporal dynamics of binary and graded tonic pain in humans using intracranial recordings”

Caston

Smith

Davis

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…Our research group recently developed a thermoelectric device compatible with intracranial electrodes. The device and integrated software have been validated as a psychophysical pain task in healthy human subjects [22]. The task consists of four main events ( Figure 1A ), which occur in each trial: 1) The participant places their hand on the device for 5 seconds, 2) the participant removes their hand from the device, 3) the participant responds to whether the trial was perceived as painful, and 4) the participant rates the perceived pain and heat intensity on a scale of 0-10.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychophysical pain encoding in the cingulate cortex predicts responsiveness of electrical stimulation

Caston

Smith

Davis

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background: The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays an important role in the cognitive and emotional processing of pain. Prior studies have used deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat chronic pain, but results have been inconsistent. This may be due to network adaptation over time and variable causes of chronic pain. Identifying patient-specific pain network features may be necessary to determine patient candidacy for DBS. Hypothesis: Cingulate stimulation would increase patients' hot pain thresholds if non-stimulation 70-150 Hz activity encoded psychophysical pain responses. Methods: In this study, four patients who underwent intracranial monitoring for epilepsy monitoring participated in a pain task. They placed their hand on a device capable of eliciting thermal pain for five seconds and rated their pain. We used these results to determine the individual's thermal pain threshold with and without electrical stimulation. Two different types of generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLME) were employed to assess the neural representations underlying binary and graded pain psychophysics. Results: The pain threshold for each patient was determined from the psychometric probability density function. Two patients had a higher pain threshold with stimulation than without, while the other two patients had no difference. We also evaluated the relationship between neural activity and pain responses. We found that patients who responded to stimulation had specific time windows where high-frequency activity was associated with increased pain ratings. Conclusion: Stimulation of cingulate regions with increased pain-related neural activity was more effective at modulating pain perception than stimulating non-responsive areas. Personalized evaluation of neural activity biomarkers could help identify the best target for stimulation and predict its effectiveness in future studies evaluating DBS.

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Optimization of cooling process under varied pulsed conditions in multi-stage thermoelectric systems

Buchalik,

Nowak

2025

Applied Thermal Engineering

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A novel thermoelectric device integrated with a psychophysical paradigm to study pain processing in human subjects

Cited by 7 publications

References 64 publications

“Characterization of spatiotemporal dynamics of binary and graded tonic pain in humans using intracranial recordings”

“Characterization of spatiotemporal dynamics of binary and graded tonic pain in humans using intracranial recordings”

Psychophysical pain encoding in the cingulate cortex predicts responsiveness of electrical stimulation

Optimization of cooling process under varied pulsed conditions in multi-stage thermoelectric systems

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