The moderating role of trait mindfulness on pain perception: insights from pain-related electroencephalography...

Pain perception is a subjective experience influenced by individual emotional and cognitive, including attentional and cognitive processes. In this respect, trait mindfulness-as an individual's inherent tendency to remain nonelaborative, nonjudgmental aware and attentive to the present moment-may modulate electroencephalography (EEG) responses to pain stimulation and perceived pain intensity. However, this potential relationship remains largely unexplored in experimental research and was therefore the focus of this study.

Forty healthy participants, aged 20 to 30 years, completed a trait mindfulness questionnaire, followed by experimental thermal pain stimulation while their brain activity was recorded using EEG and pain intensity ratings were assessed during the stimulation (pain perception). Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were used to explore the relationships between trait mindfulness, EEG responses to pain stimulation, and pain perception.

Trait mindfulness was positively correlated with pain intensity ratings during pain stimulation and δ power in the occipital region. Pain intensity ratings during pain stimulation were negatively correlated with the γ power in the frontal region. Lower θ and α power during pain stimulation predicted higher subsequent pain intensity ratings, but only in individuals with low or moderate trait mindfulness.

This study underscores the moderating role of trait mindfulness in the relationship between frontal, central, parietal, occipital, as well as temporal brain activity and pain perception during pain stimulation. The findings suggest trait mindfulness may be an important factor to consider in clinical pain management and intervention: It can affect cognitive-affective regulation strategies and factors during pain processing.