| 1. |
- Khatibi, Ali, et al.
(author)
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Attention effects on vicarious modulation of nociception and pain
- 2014
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In: Pain. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0304-3959 .- 1872-6623. ; 155:10, s. 2033-2039
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The observation of others' facial expressions of pain has been shown to facilitate the observer's nociceptive responses and to increase pain perception. We investigated how this vicarious facilitation effect is modulated by directing the observer's attention toward the meaning of pain expression or the facial movements. In separate trials, participants were instructed to assess the "intensity of the pain expression"(meaning) or to "discriminate the facial movements" in the upper vs lower part of the face shown in 1-second dynamic clips displaying mild, moderate, or strong pain expressions or a neutral control. In 50% of the trials, participants received a painful electrical stimulation to the sural nerve immediately after the presentation of the expression. Low-level nociceptive reactivity was measured with the RIII-response, and pain perception was assessed using pain ratings. Pain induced by the electrical stimulation increased after viewing stronger pain expressions in both tasks, but the RIII-response showed this vicarious facilitation effect only in the movement discrimination task at the strongest expression intensity. These findings are consistent with the notion that vicarious processes facilitate self-pain and may prime automatic nociceptive responses. However, this priming effect is influenced by top-down attentional processes. These results provide another case of dissociation between reflexive and perceptual processes, consistent with the involvement of partly separate brain networks in the regulation of cortical and lower-level nociceptive responses. Combined with previous results, these findings suggest that vicarious pain facilitation is an automatic process that may be diminished by top-down attentional processes directed at the meaning of the expression.
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| 2. |
- St-Onge, Frédéric, et al.
(author)
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Functional connectome fingerprinting across the lifespan
- 2023
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In: Network Neuroscience. - 2472-1751. ; 7:3, s. 1206-1227
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Systematic changes have been observed in the functional architecture of the human brain with advancing age. However, functional connectivity (FC) is also a powerful feature to detect unique “connectome fingerprints,” allowing identification of individuals among their peers. Although fingerprinting has been robustly observed in samples of young adults, the reliability of this approach has not been demonstrated across the lifespan. We applied the fingerprinting framework to the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience cohort (n = 483 aged 18 to 89 years). We found that individuals are “fingerprintable” (i.e., identifiable) across independent functional MRI scans throughout the lifespan. We observed a U-shape distribution in the strength of “self-identifiability” (within-individual correlation across modalities), and “others-identifiability” (between-individual correlation across modalities), with a decrease from early adulthood into middle age, before improving in older age. FC edges contributing to self-identifiability were not restricted to specific brain networks and were different between individuals across the lifespan sample. Self-identifiability was additionally associated with regional brain volume. These findings indicate that individual participant-level identification is preserved across the lifespan despite the fact that its components are changing nonlinearly.
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| 3. |
- Vachon-Presseau, Etienne, et al.
(author)
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Corticolimbic anatomical characteristics predetermine risk for chronic pain
- 2016
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In: Brain. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0006-8950 .- 1460-2156. ; 139, s. 1958-1970
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mechanisms of chronic pain remain poorly understood. We tracked brain properties in subacute back pain patients longitudinally for 3 years as they either recovered from or transitioned to chronic pain. Whole-brain comparisons indicated corticolimbic, but not pain-related circuitry, white matter connections predisposed patients to chronic pain. Intra-corticolimbic white matter connectivity analysis identified three segregated communities: dorsal medial prefrontal cortex-amygdala-accumbens, ventral medial prefrontal cortex-amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex-amygdala-hippocampus. Higher incidence of white matter and functional connections within the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex-amygdala-accumbens circuit, as well as smaller amygdala volume, represented independent risk factors, together accounting for 60% of the variance for pain persistence. Opioid gene polymorphisms and negative mood contributed indirectly through corticolimbic anatomical factors, to risk for chronic pain. Our results imply that persistence of chronic pain is predetermined by corticolimbic neuroanatomical factors.
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