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Updated: Jun 14, 2025

Method for Simultaneous fMRI/EEG Data Collection during a Focused Attention Suggestion for Differential Thermal Sensation
Published on: January 5, 2014
Thermal contrast enhancement predicts paradoxical heat sensation
Alexandra G Mitchell1, Jesper Fischer Ehmsen2, Małgorzata Basińska3
1Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. agmitchell@cfin.au.dk.
Abstract:
Paradoxical Heat Sensation (PHS) is the remarkable feeling of warmth or heat pain while the skin is cooling. Despite its initial documentation over 100 years ago, a unified explanation for this perplexing experience remains elusive. Here we apply contrast enhancement principles, known for their instrumental role in understanding visual illusions, to the domain of thermosensation. Contrast enhancement describes the amplification of two contrasting visual features, such as the enhanced perception of an edge between a light and dark bar. In thermosensation, this encompasses an enhancement of the difference between sequential warming and cooling of the skin, and is defined as the normalised difference between successive temporal warm and cold temperatures. Remarkably, thermal contrast predicts the occurrence of PHS. Our findings reveal compelling evidence supporting the role of thermal contrast in the generation of PHS, shedding light on its underlying mechanism and offering a framework for broader encoding principles in thermosensation and pain.
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