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The influence of EEG oscillations, heart rate variability changes, and personality on self-pain and empathy for pain under placebo analgesia.

ABSTRACT: We induced placebo analgesia (PA), a phenomenon explicitly attenuating the self-pain feeling, to assess whether this resulted in reduced empathy pain when witnessing a confederate undergoing such pain experience. We recorded EEG and electrocardiogram during a painful Control and PA treatment in healthy adults who rated their experienced pain and empathy for pain. We derived HRV changes and, using wavelet analysis of non-phase-locked event-related EEG oscillations, EEG spectral power differences for self-pain and other-pain conditions. First-hand PA reduced self-pain and self-unpleasantness, whereas we observed only a slight decrease in other unpleasantness. We derived linear combinations of HRV and EEG band power changes significantly associated with self-pain and empathy for pain changes using PCAs. Lower Behavioral Inhibition System scores predicted self-pain reduction through the mediating effect of a relative HR-slowing and a decreased midline ϑ-band (4-8 Hz) power factor moderated by lower Fight-Flight-Freeze System trait scores. In the other-pain condition, we detected a direct positive influence of Total Empathic Ability on the other-pain decline with a mediating role of the midline β2-band (22-30 Hz) power reduction. These findings suggest that PA modulation of first-hand versus other pain relies on functionally different physiological processes involving different personality traits.

SUBMITTER: De Pascalis V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9001726 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The influence of EEG oscillations, heart rate variability changes, and personality on self-pain and empathy for pain under placebo analgesia.

De Pascalis Vilfredo V Vecchio Arianna A

Scientific reports 20220411 1

We induced placebo analgesia (PA), a phenomenon explicitly attenuating the self-pain feeling, to assess whether this resulted in reduced empathy pain when witnessing a confederate undergoing such pain experience. We recorded EEG and electrocardiogram during a painful Control and PA treatment in healthy adults who rated their experienced pain and empathy for pain. We derived HRV changes and, using wavelet analysis of non-phase-locked event-related EEG oscillations, EEG spectral power differences ...[more]

PMID: 35410362

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Project description:Personality traits have been shown to interact with environmental cues to modulate biological responses including treatment responses, and potentially having a role in the formation of placebo effects. Here, we assessed psychological traits in 50 healthy controls as to their capacity to predict placebo analgesic effects, placebo-induced activation of ?-opioid neurotransmission and changes in cortisol plasma levels during a sustained experimental pain challenge (hypertonic saline infused in the masseter muscle) with and without placebo administration. Statistical analyses showed that an aggregate of scores from Ego-Resiliency, NEO Altruism, NEO Straightforwardness (positive predictors) and NEO Angry Hostility (negative predictor) scales accounted for 25% of the variance in placebo analgesic responses. Molecular imaging showed that subjects scoring above the median in a composite of those trait measures also presented greater placebo-induced activation of ?-opioid neurotransmission in the subgenual and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbitofrontal cortex, insula, nucleus accumbens, amygdala and periaqueductal gray (PAG). Endogenous opioid release in the dorsal ACC and PAG was positively correlated with placebo-induced reductions in pain ratings. Significant reductions in cortisol levels were observed during placebo administration and were positively correlated with decreases in pain ratings, ?-opioid system activation in the dorsal ACC and PAG, and as a trend, negatively with NEO Angry Hostility scores. Our results show that personality traits explain a substantial proportion of the variance in placebo analgesic responses and are further associated with activations in endogenous opioid neurotransmission, and as a trend cortisol plasma levels. This initial data, if replicated in larger sample, suggest that simple trait measures easily deployable in the field could be utilized to reduce variability in clinical trials, but may also point to measures of individual resiliency in the face of aversive stimuli such as persistent pain and potentially other stressors.

Project description:BackgroundPlacebo and nocebo responses have been increasingly gaining the attention of clinical and scientific researchers. Inconsistent conclusions from current studies indicate that different factors potentially affect both placebo and nocebo responses. Increasing evidence suggests that personality differences may affect the mechanisms of both two responses. In the present work, we explored the characteristics of neural signals of placebo and nocebo responses based on functional connectivity (FC) analysis and Granger causality analysis (GCA).MethodsA total of 34 healthy participants received conditional induction training to establish placebo and nocebo responses. Every participant completed the following experimental workflow, including scanning of baseline, experimental low back pain model establishment, scanning of acute pain status, and scanning of placebo response or nocebo response. We collect visual analogue scale (VAS) data after each scanning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from different personality groups were subjected to FC analysis and multivariate GCA (mGCA).ResultsPain scores for placebo and nocebo responses were statistically different across different personality. There are also statistically differences in the neural signals of two responses across different personality.ConclusionsThe findings of the present study indicated that extroverted and introverted participants are likely to experience placebo analgesic effects and nocebo hyperalgesia effects, respectively. Both extroverted and introverted participants showed significant changes in brain networks under placebo response. Variation in emotional control and ventromedial prefrontal cortex inactivity may constitute the bulk of the personality differences in placebo analgesia. Differences in the regulation of the sensory conduction system (SCS) and release of the emotional circuit could be important factors affecting personality differences in nocebo hyperalgesia.

Dataset Information

The influence of EEG oscillations, heart rate variability changes, and personality on self-pain and empathy for pain under placebo analgesia.

Publications

The influence of EEG oscillations, heart rate variability changes, and personality on self-pain and empathy for pain under placebo analgesia.

Similar Datasets

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