Attention and Interoception Alter Perceptual and Neural Pain Signatures-A Case Study.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Chronic pain involves complex cognitive, emotional, and perceptual factors.
• Existing methods for tracking pain are often limited in capturing real-time, dynamic fluctuations and their correlates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a novel pain tracking platform integrating wearable neurotechnology and a smartphone application.
• To investigate the influence of attention allocation to different bodily systems on chronic pain levels and neural correlates.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a custom-built platform measuring pain strength, phenomenal, and neural time series via low-density electroencephalography (EEG) and an online tool.
• Collected data over 20 days from a single participant performing an attention task at home, focusing on heartbeat, breathing, affected limb, or unaffected limb.

Main Results:

• Pain intensity was highest when attention was directed to the affected limb and decreased when focusing on breathing or heartbeat.
• Emotional states showed a relationship with pain strength across different attention conditions.
• EEG data revealed power changes in delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands, with theta power higher when attending to the unaffected limb; pain ratings correlated with alpha and theta changes when attending to the unaffected limb.

Conclusions:

• The developed platform can capture dynamic changes in subjective pain and neural activity based on attention allocation.
• This approach provides a proof of concept for personalized clinical assessment tools for chronic pain.
• Findings highlight the role of interoceptive attention in modulating chronic pain experiences and their neural underpinnings.