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Neural substrate for facilitation of pain processing during sadness
1Neuroscience Program, Michigan State University, 108 Giltner Hall, 293 Farm Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Neuroreport
|September 12, 2012
Summary
Sad moods intensify pain perception by increasing neural activity in brain regions processing both pain and emotion. This suggests a top-down system involving the posterior insula/secondary somatosensory cortex facilitates pain when feeling sad.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Pain Research
Background:
- Emotion significantly influences pain perception.
- The precise neural mechanisms by which emotional states alter pain processing remain incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of induced sad mood on the perception of experimentally delivered pain.
- To identify neural correlates of altered pain processing during a sad emotional state using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Main Methods:
- Functional MRI (fMRI) was employed to monitor brain activity in 15 healthy participants.
- Participants underwent three conditions: receiving painful electric stimuli, experiencing a sad mood induced by sad imagery, and receiving painful stimuli while in a sad mood.
- Pain intensity ratings were collected under sad and neutral mood conditions.
Main Results:
- Participants reported significantly higher pain intensity when experiencing a sad mood compared to a neutral mood, despite identical stimulus intensity.
- fMRI data revealed increased neural activation in pain-processing regions, including the posterior insula/secondary somatosensory cortex (pIn/SII) and periaqueductal gray, during painful stimulation under sad mood.
- Enhanced activation was also observed in emotion-processing regions such as the subgenual cingulate cortex and amygdala.
Conclusions:
- Sad mood potentiates pain perception, indicating a significant interaction between emotional state and nociception.
- Increased activation in the pIn/SII, alongside interconnected emotional and pain-modulating brain regions (anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, periaqueductal gray), suggests a top-down pain facilitation system.
- These findings elucidate neural pathways through which negative emotions can exacerbate the subjective experience of pain.
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