Ultra-low frequency neural entrainment to pain

Abstract

30Nervous systems exploit regularities in the sensory environment to predict sensory input and adjust 31 behavior, and thereby maximize fitness. Entrainment of neural oscillations allows retaining temporal 32 regularities of sensory information, a prerequisite for prediction. Entrainment has been extensively 33 described at the frequencies of periodic inputs most commonly present in visual and auditory landscapes 34 (e.g. >1 Hz). An open question is whether neural entrainment also occurs for regularities at much longer 35timescales. Here we exploited the fact that the temporal dynamics of thermal stimuli in natural environment 36can unfold very slowly. We show that ultra-low frequency neural oscillations preserved a long-lasting trace 37 of sensory information through neural entrainment to periodic thermo-nociceptive input as low as 0.1 Hz. 38Importantly, revealing the functional significance of this phenomenon, both power and phase of the 39 entrainment predicted individual pain sensitivity. In contrast, periodic auditory input at the same ultra-low 40 frequency did not entrain ultra-low frequency oscillations. These results demonstrate that a functionally-41 significant neural entrainment can occur at temporal scales far longer than those commonly explored. The 42 non-supramodal nature of our results suggests that ultra-low frequency entrainment might be tuned to the 43 temporal scale of the statistical regularities characteristic of different sensory modalities. 44

Entangled brains and the experience of pains

“…This result aligns with previous EEG and fMRI studies (e.g., Atlas et al, 2014;Woo et al, 2015;Tiemann et al, 2018), which supports the idea that these brain waves are correlated with the brain translating stimulus intensity into concomitant sensations of pain intensity. These responses were in the areas that process the salience of stimuli, especially where pain is concerned (cf., Guo et al, 2020). These data also dovetail with data from implanted EEG electrodes in patients being monitored for epileptic foci who experienced a range of durations and intensities of thermal pain under controlled conditions (Caston et al, 2023).…”

At Which Low Amplitude Modulated Frequency Do Infants Best Entrain? A Frequency Tagging Study

“…Entrainment is also thought to be coupled across many physiological markers, including motherinfant synchronisation of heart rhythms , neural tracking of pain (Guo et al, 2020), thermal-cardiac entrainment (Mannix et al, 1997), infant-adult synchronisation of pupil dilations (Fawcett et al, 2017) and synchronisation of respiration to rocking (Sammon & Darnell, 1994).…”