Anticipatory Electroencephalography Alpha Rhythm Predicts Subjective Perception of Pain Intensity

The Phase of Ongoing EEG Oscillations Predicts Visual Perception

“…Our analysis also confirmed previous studies reporting that stimuli preceded by strong alpha power are less likely to be detected (Ergenoglu et al, 2004;Babiloni et al, 2006;Thut et al, 2006;Hanslmayr et al, 2007). However, the influence of phase on visual detection performance, accounting for a minimum of 16% variability in performance (Fig.…”

“…Ongoing oscillations may contribute to this temporal modulation of information processing, since they affect the local electrical field and the intrinsic excitability of neuronal populations (Buzsáki and Draguhn, 2004;Fries et al, 2007;Sirota et al, 2008). Indeed, tonic shifts in the power of spontaneous brain rhythms in certain frequency bands, particularly the alpha (8 -12 Hz) and gamma (Ͼ30 Hz) bands, are known to accompany changes of neural response amplitude (Başar et al, 1998), attentional state (Worden et al, 2000;Sauseng et al, 2005;Thut et al, 2006;Fries et al, 2008), and perceptual performance (Ergenoglu et al, 2004;Gonzalez Andino et al, 2005;Babiloni et al, 2006;Thut et al, 2006;Womelsdorf et al, 2006;Hanslmayr et al, 2007;Romei et al, 2008;van Dijk et al, 2008). Yet oscillations are not only characterized by their power but also by their instantaneous phase.…”

Painful cutaneous laser stimuli induce event-related oscillatory EEG activities that are different from those induced by nonpainful electrical stimuli

“…Different frequency bands exhibit different temporal, spatial, and task-related characteristics, which are consistent with their involvement in different aspects of cerebral processing (Bastiaansen and Brunia 2001;Boiten et al 1992;Klimesch et al 1998;Tiihonen et al 1991). Event-related spectral modulation of scalp EEG has also been applied to studies of the cortical processing of painful stimuli.In response to painful stimuli, ERD has been found most frequently in the alpha band (Babiloni et al 2006;Ferracuti et al 1994;Hu et al 2013;Mouraux et al 2003;Ploner et al 2006). ERS has also been reported at longer latency in the gamma band (Croft et al 2002) or both the beta (rebound) and gamma bands (Hauck et al 2007;Mouraux and Iannetti 2008).…”

“…ERS has also been reported at longer latency in the gamma band (Croft et al 2002) or both the beta (rebound) and gamma bands (Hauck et al 2007;Mouraux and Iannetti 2008). Some of these ERS/ERD activities have been associated with the perception of pain (Babiloni et al 2006;Croft et al 2002) and with endogenous or exogenous attention to the painful stimulus (Hauck et al 2007;Hu et al 2013).It is not clear that any one of these somatic sensory painrelated activities is specific for painful as opposed to nonpainful somatic stimuli, or to the salience of the stimuli Legrain et al 2011). We have now tested the hypothesis that the non-phase-locked responses to nonpainful electric cutaneous stimuli are different from those to painful cutaneous laser stimuli when the baseline salience of the two stimuli is the same and the salience during the experimental protocol is modulated by count laser and count electric tasks.…”

“…ERS has also been reported at longer latency in the gamma band (Croft et al 2002) or both the beta (rebound) and gamma bands (Hauck et al 2007;Mouraux and Iannetti 2008). Some of these ERS/ERD activities have been associated with the perception of pain (Babiloni et al 2006;Croft et al 2002) and with endogenous or exogenous attention to the painful stimulus (Hauck et al 2007;Hu et al 2013).…”