Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Psychophysically-anchored, Robust Thresholding in Studying Pain-related Lateralization of Oscillatory Prestimulus Activity
Published on: January 21, 2017
Effect of pain perception on the heartbeat evoked potential
Shiyun Shao1, Kaiquan Shen, Einar P V Wilder-Smith
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Objective:
To investigate the effect of acute tonic pain on the heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) and to test whether or not pain perception can be reflected by the HEP.
Methods:
Simultaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) were recorded from 21 healthy young adults in three conditions: passive no-task control, no-pain control and cold pain. The HEP was obtained by using ECG R-peaks as event triggers.
Results:
Prominent HEP deflection was observed in both control conditions mainly over the frontal and central locations, while it was significantly suppressed in the cold pain condition over the right-frontal, right-central and midline locations. A comparison of the data in the first and last 5 min of cold pain condition showed that lower subjective pain ratings were accompanied by higher HEP magnitudes. A correlation analysis showed that the mean HEP magnitude over the midline locations was significantly negatively correlated with subjective pain ratings.
Conclusions:
Cold pain induces significant suppression of the HEP across a number of scalp locations, and the suppression is correlated with self-report of pain.
Significance:
The HEP has the potential to serve as an alternative pain measure.
Related Concept Videos
Pain
Blood and Nerve Supply to the Bones
Nutrient Artery
The nutrient artery is the main blood vessel that enters the diaphysis via the nutrient foramen. While most long bones have only one nutrient foramen, large bones, such as the femur, may have two. This...
Measurement of Blood Pressure
Factors Influencing Heart Rate
Let us explore the significant factors affecting heart rate, including age, body temperature, posture, acute pain, chemical influences,...
Pulse
The pulse serves as a clinical indicator...
Regulation of Pulse
