Transforming Pain With Prosocial Meaning: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Contextual factors can transform how we experience pain, particularly if pain is associated with other positive outcomes. Here, we test a novel meaning-based intervention. Participants were given the opportunity to choose to receive pain on behalf of their romantic partners, situating pain experience in a positive, prosocial meaning context. We predicted that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a key structure for pain regulation and generation of affective meaning, would mediate the transformation of pain experience by this prosocial interpersonal context.

Methods

We studied fMRI activity and behavioral responses in 29 heterosexual female participants during (1) a baseline pain challenge and (2) a task in which participants decided to accept a self-selecte

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Sola M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6218300 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov/Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature