Duration of the cue-to-pain delay increases pain intensity: a combined EEG and MEG study

Expectation of pain is an important adaptive process enabling individuals to avoid bodily harm. It reflects the linking of past experience and environmental cues with imminent threat. In the present study, we examined changes in perceived pain contingent upon variation of the interval between an auditory cue and a subsequent painful laser stimulus. The duration of the cue-to-stimulus delay was systematically varied between 2, 4 and 6 s. Pain intensity and evoked brain responses measured by EEG and MEG recordings were analysed. Pain ratings from 15 subjects increased with longer cue-to-pain delays, accompanied by an increase in activity of the midcingulate cortex (MCC), as modelled from evoked EEG potential maps. On the other hand, MEG-based source activity in secondary somatosensory (SII) cortex remained unaffected by manipulation of the cue-to-stimulus interval. We conclude that activity in limbic structures such as MCC play a key role in the temporal dynamics of recruitment of expectation towards pain. Although this reaction is adaptive if the individual is able to avoid the stimulus, it is maladaptive if such opportunity is not present.