ORCID Profile
0000-0002-1871-6969
Current Organisations
Queen's University
,
University of Reading
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2012
Publisher: Society for Neuroscience
Date: 11-08-2004
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1315-04.2004
Abstract: The response to painful stimulation depends not only on peripheral nociceptive input but also on the cognitive and affective context in which pain occurs. One contextual variable that affects the neural and behavioral response to nociceptive stimulation is the degree to which pain is perceived to be controllable. Previous studies indicate that perceived controllability affects pain tolerance, learning and motivation, and the ability to cope with intractable pain, suggesting that it has profound effects on neural pain processing. To date, however, no neuroimaging studies have assessed these effects. We manipulated the subjects' belief that they had control over a nociceptive stimulus, while the stimulus itself was held constant. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that pain that was perceived to be controllable resulted in attenuated activation in the three neural areas most consistently linked with pain processing: the anterior cingulate, insular, and secondary somatosensory cortices. This suggests that activation at these sites is modulated by cognitive variables, such as perceived controllability, and that pain imaging studies may therefore overestimate the degree to which these responses are stimulus driven and generalizable across cognitive contexts.
Publisher: MIT Press - Journals
Date: 02-2014
DOI: 10.1162/JOCN_A_00702
Abstract: Anxiolytic effects of perceived control have been observed across species. In humans, neuroimaging studies have suggested that perceived control and cognitive reappraisal reduce negative affect through similar mechanisms. An important limitation of extant neuroimaging studies of perceived control in terms of directly testing this hypothesis, however, is the use of within-subject designs, which confound participants' affective response to controllable and uncontrollable stress. To compare neural and affective responses when participants were exposed to either uncontrollable or controllable stress, two groups of participants received an identical series of stressors (thermal pain stimuli). One group (“controllable”) was led to believe they had behavioral control over the pain stimuli, whereas another (“uncontrollable”) believed they had no control. Controllable pain was associated with decreased state anxiety, decreased activation in amygdala, and increased activation in nucleus accumbens. In participants who perceived control over the pain, reduced state anxiety was associated with increased functional connectivity between each of these regions and ventral lateral/ventral medial pFC. The location of pFC findings is consistent with regions found to be critical for the anxiolytic effects of perceived control in rodents. Furthermore, interactions observed between pFC and both amygdala and nucleus accumbens are remarkably similar to neural mechanisms of emotion regulation through reappraisal in humans. These results suggest that perceived control reduces negative affect through a general mechanism involved in the cognitive regulation of emotion.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.JPAIN.2017.09.009
Abstract: Epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory studies show sex differences in pain responses, with women more sensitive to nociceptive stimulation and more vulnerable to long-term pain conditions than men. Because of evidence that men are culturally reinforced for the ability to endure (or under-report) pain, some of these findings might be explained by sociocultural beliefs about gender-appropriate behavior. One potential manifestation of these effects might be differential participation in pain studies, with men adhering to stereotypical masculine roles viewing participation as a way to demonstrate their masculinity. To test this possibility, we assessed gender identification in 137 healthy participants. At the end of the assessment, they were asked if they would like to participate in other research studies. Interested participants were then asked to participate in a study involving administration of pain-evoking stimulation. We compared in iduals who agreed to participate in the pain study with those who declined. We observed a significant Sex × Participation interaction in masculine gender identification, such that men (but not women) who agreed to participate identified significantly more with masculine gender. Among masculine gender traits examined, we found that high levels of aggression and competitiveness were the strongest predictors of pain study participation. Our results suggest that men in pain studies might have higher levels of masculine gender identification than the wider male population. Taken together with previous findings of lower levels of pain sensitivity (or reporting) in masculine-identifying male participants, these results suggest an explanation for some of the sex-related differences observed in pain responses. To examine whether sex and gender affect willingness to participate in pain studies, we assessed gender identification in men and women, then attempted to recruit them to participate in a pain study. Men who agree to participate in pain studies are significantly higher in masculine gender identification than men who decline to participate or women who agree to participate. Men who agreed to participate were rated particularly high in aggressiveness and competitiveness.
Publisher: MIT Press - Journals
Date: 06-2007
DOI: 10.1162/JOCN.2007.19.6.993
Abstract: The degree to which perceived controllability alters the way a stressor is experienced varies greatly among in iduals. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural activation associated with in idual differences in the impact of perceived controllability on self-reported pain perception. Subjects with greater activation in response to uncontrollable (UC) rather than controllable (C) pain in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC), periaqueductal gray (PAG), and posterior insula/SII reported higher levels of pain during the UC versus C conditions. Conversely, subjects with greater activation in the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) in anticipation of pain in the UC versus C conditions reported less pain in response to UC versus C pain. Activation in the VLPFC was significantly correlated with the acceptance and denial subscales of the COPE inventory [Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267–283, 1989], supporting the interpretation that this anticipatory activation was associated with an attempt to cope with the emotional impact of uncontrollable pain. A regression model containing the two prefrontal clusters (VLPFC and pACC) predicted 64% of the variance in pain rating difference, with activation in the two additional regions (PAG and insula/SII) predicting almost no additional variance. In addition to supporting the conclusion that the impact of perceived controllability on pain perception varies highly between in iduals, these findings suggest that these effects are primarily top-down, driven by processes in regions of the prefrontal cortex previously associated with cognitive modulation of pain and emotion regulation.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Tim Salomons.