Does pain hurt more in Spanish? The neurobiology of pain among Spanish-English bilingual adults.

ABSTRACT: We previously found Spanish-English bilingual adults reported higher pain intensity when exposed to painful heat in the language of their stronger cultural orientation. Here, we elucidate brain systems involved in language-driven alterations in pain responses. During separate English- and Spanish-speaking fMRI scanning runs, 39 (21 female) bilingual adults rated painful heat intermixed between culturally evocative images and completed sentence reading tasks. Surveys of cultural identity and language use measured relative preference for US-American vs Hispanic culture (cultural orientation). Participants produced higher intensity ratings in Spanish compared to English. Group-level whole-brain differences in pain-evoked activity between languages emerged in somatosensory, cingulate, precuneu

SUBMITTER: Gianola M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10868134 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature