Perceived Controllability Modulates the Neural Response to Pain

Salomons, Tim V.; Johnstone, Tom; Backonja, Misha-Miroslav; Davidson, Richard J.

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1315-04.2004

Cited by 230 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The defining characteristic of this process is an exponential growth up to the outcome. We found ample evidence for this process throughout the cortical pain matrix, a result consistent with previous studies of pain anticipation (6,7,(27)(28)(29)(30)(31). Unlike previous studies, we are now able to identify neurobiological substrates associated specifically with a second component of anticipation: dread.…”

supporting

confidence: 88%

Neurobiological Substrates of Dread

Berns

Chappelow

Cekić

et al. 2006

Science

238

211

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Given the choice of waiting for an adverse outcome or getting it over with quickly, many people choose the latter. Theoretical models of decision-making have assumed that this occurs because there is a cost to waiting-i.e., dread. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured the neural responses to waiting for a cutaneous electric shock. Some individuals dreaded the outcome so much that, when given a choice, they preferred to receive more voltage rather than wait. Even when no decision was required, these extreme dreaders were distinguishable from those who dreaded mildly by the rate of increase of neural activity in the posterior elements of the cortical pain matrix. This suggests that dread derives, in part, from the attention devoted to the expected physical response and not simply from fear or anxiety. Although these differences were observed during a passive waiting procedure, they correlated with individual behavior in a subsequent choice paradigm, providing evidence for a neurobiological link between the experienced disutility of dread and subsequent decisions about unpleasant outcomes.Making decisions about gains and losses is one of the archetypal problems that all animals face, but when the outcome is temporally delayed from the decision, the problem becomes considerably more complex than simply choosing the course of action with the better expected outcome. Standard economic theory posits that preferences for outcomes that occur at different times can be represented by an expected utility of the future outcomes discounted by the amount of time one must wait for them (1). These theories typically apply discounting under the assumption that people care less about outcomes that are more remote in the future than those that are more imminent, which leads to the prediction that people should want to expedite desired experiences and delay undesirable experiences for as long as possible. A wide range of findings, however, shows that people often exhibit the opposite pattern: They prefer to delay gratifications and to speed up the occurrence of unpleasant outcomes. If people do, indeed, discount the future, then why do they so often exhibit patterns of preference that are the opposite of the predictions of time discounting? The answer, we suggest, lies in the fact that the act of waiting may itself bring subjective benefits or costs, such as the joyous anticipation of waiting for a birthday present or the misery of waiting for a dentist's appointment. In the case of bad outcomes, the problem can be reduced to the utility of dread (2).In contrast to standard discounted utility theory, another type of decision-making model posits that waiting enters the utility function separately from the outcome (3, 4). Here, an individual's preference for waiting at any point in time reflects the relative weight of two considerations:

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supporting

confidence: 88%

Neurobiological Substrates of Dread

Berns

Chappelow

Cekić

et al. 2006

Science

238

211

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In contrast, other effects, such as acceleration of visual reaction times (Longo and Haggard, 2009) and proprioceptive integration (Tsakiris et al, 2006), appeared to be related to agency. It is well established that perceived control reduces both the subjective experience of (Weisenberg et al, 1985) and neural responses to (Salomons et al, 2004) pain, via modulation of anterolateral prefrontal regions involved in pain appraisal (Wiech et al, 2006). It is therefore possible that our effects are mediated by an increased sense of bodily control when viewing the hand.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Visually Induced Analgesia: Seeing the Body Reduces Pain

Longo¹,

Betti²,

Aglioti³

et al. 2009

J. Neurosci.

230

272

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Given previous reports of strong interactions between vision and somatic senses, we investigated whether vision of the body modulates pain perception. Participants looked into a mirror aligned with their body midline at either the reflection of their own left hand (creating the illusion that they were looking directly at their own right hand) or the reflection of a neutral object. We induced pain using an infrared laser and recorded nociceptive laser-evoked potentials (LEPs). We also collected subjective ratings of pain intensity and unpleasantness. Vision of the body produced clear analgesic effects on both subjective ratings of pain and the N2/P2 complex of LEPs. Similar results were found during direct vision of the hand, without the mirror. Furthermore, these effects were specific to vision of one's own hand and were absent when viewing another person's hand. These results demonstrate a novel analgesic effect of non-informative vision of the body.

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“…Studies using the learned helplessness paradigm have taught us that an organism is advantaged when having control over aversive events compared with having no control (Abrahamson et al, 1978;Seligman, 1972). Evidence is accumulating that the (perceived) ability to control pain by behavioural responses results in less pain (e.g., Wiech et al, 2006) and decreased activation in neural areas usually linked with pain processing (anterior cingulate, insular, and secondary somatosensory cortices) (e.g., Salomons et al, 2004). Furthermore, several studies have identified the neurobiological basis for processes that are central in pain control such as cognitive reappraisal (Wiech et al, 2006) and motor preparation (Morrison et al, 2007).…”

Section: Effects Of "Real-life" Pain Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Keeping pain in mind: A motivational account of attention to pain

Damme

Legrain

Vogt

et al. 2010

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

338

327

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Attention is a key concept in many theories of pain perception. A clinically popular idea is that pain is more intense in persons who are hypervigilant for or bias their attention to pain information. So far, evidence for such bias in pain patients as compared to healthy persons is inconclusive. Furthermore, studies investigating the effects of distracting attention away from pain have shown contradictory results. In this review, we present a motivational perspective on attentional processing of pain that accounts for these inconclusive research findings. We argue that pain always has to be considered within a context of goal pursuit. From this perspective, two largely unexplored theoretical assumptions are introduced. First, when pain occurs during the pursuit of a certain goal, it may unintentionally capture attention although it is not relevant for the goal. Whether such unintentional attentional capture happens is not only dependent upon the characteristics of the pain but also on the characteristics of the focal goal. Second, attention to pain and pain-related information might be driven by a focal goal related to pain. Attentional processing of pain information will be particularly enhanced when the focal goal is related to pain management (e.g., attempting to gain control). Future research has to systematically investigate the role of motivation and goal pursuit in the attentional processing of pain-related information. This motivational perspective offers a powerful framework to explain inter-and intra-individual differences in the deployment of attention to painrelated information.

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Perceived Controllability Modulates the Neural Response to Pain

Cited by 230 publications

References 29 publications

Neurobiological Substrates of Dread

Neurobiological Substrates of Dread

Visually Induced Analgesia: Seeing the Body Reduces Pain

Keeping pain in mind: A motivational account of attention to pain

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