BEYOND THE ‘PAIN MATRIX’, INTER-RUN SYNCHRONIZATION DURING MECHANICAL NOCICEPTIVE STIMULATION
Pain is a complex experience that emerges from the activity multiple brain areas, some of which are inconsistently detected using traditional fMRI analysis. One hypothesis is that the traditional analysis of pain-related response, by relying on the correlation of a predictor convolved with the canon...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00265/full |
| Summary: | Pain is a complex experience that emerges from the activity multiple brain areas, some of which are inconsistently detected using traditional fMRI analysis. One hypothesis is that the traditional analysis of pain-related response, by relying on the correlation of a predictor convolved with the canonical hemodynamic response function (HRF)- the general linear model (GLM)- may under-detect the activity of those areas involved in stimulus processing that do not present a canonical HRF. In this study, we employed an innovative data-driven processing approach- an inter-run synchronization analysis- that has the advantage of not establishing any pre-determined predictor definition. With this method we were able to evidence the involvement of several brain regions that are not usually found when using predictor-based analysis. These areas are synchronized during painful stimulation and are characterized by a BOLD response that differs from the canonical HRF. This finding opens to new approaches in the study of pain imaging. |
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| ISSN: | 1662-5161 |