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Use of the Operant Orofacial Pain Assessment Device OPAD to Measure Changes in Nociceptive Behavior
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Orbitofrontal cortex mediates pain inhibition by monetary reward
Susanne Becker1,2,3, Wiebke Gandhi1,2, Florence Pomares1,2
1Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C7, Canada.
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
|January 26, 2017
Summary
Monetary rewards can reduce pain perception by engaging the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). This brain region appears to down-regulate pain-processing areas, influencing pain
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Pleasurable stimuli, such as rewards, are known to inhibit pain.
- However, the precise neural mechanisms and brain circuitry underlying this pain modulation remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the brain circuitry involved in pain inhibition by reward.
- To characterize the cerebral processes underlying the modulation of pain perception by monetary wins and losses.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to monitor brain activity in 24 healthy participants.
- Participants underwent pain stimuli while playing a game involving monetary wins and losses.
Main Results:
- Monetary wins significantly decreased pain perception compared to losses.
- Activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) correlated with individual differences in pain modulation.
- The mOFC showed altered functional connectivity with pain-processing regions (insula, cingulate cortex, somatosensory cortex) during simultaneous pain and reward, suggesting down-regulation.
Conclusions:
- Pain inhibition by reward involves the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC).
- The mOFC appears to modulate pain by down-regulating activity in pain-processing areas, potentially by altering the perceived significance or value of pain rather than its intensity.
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