QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, November 1, 2006, 26(44):11454-11461; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2260-06.2006

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Godinho, F. Articles by Garcia-Larrea, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Godinho, F. Articles by Garcia-Larrea, L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Emotional Modulation of Pain: Is It the Sensation or What We Recall?

Fabio Godinho,^1,2 Michel Magnin,¹ Maud Frot,¹ Caroline Perchet,¹ and Luis Garcia-Larrea¹

¹Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Equipe Mixte INSERM 342, Central Integration of Pain, and ²Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Unité 400, Hôpital Neurologique Pierre Wertheimer, 69003 Lyon, France

Correspondence should be addressed to Fabio Godinho, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Equipe Mixte INSERM 342, Central Integration of Pain, Hôpital Neurologique Pierre Wertheimer, 59 Boulevard Pinel, 69003 Rez-de-Jardin Lyon, France. Email: fabiogodinho{at}wanadoo.fr

Emotions modulate pain perception, although the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. In this study, we show that intensity reports significantly increased when painful stimuli were concomitant to images showing human pain, whereas pictures with identical emotional values but without somatic content failed to modulate pain. Early somatosensory responses (<200 ms) remained unmodified by emotions. Conversely, late responses showed a significant enhancement associated with increased pain ratings, localized to the right prefrontal, right temporo-occipital junction, and right temporal pole. In contrast to selective attention, which enhances pain ratings by increasing sensory gain, emotions triggered by seeing other people's pain did not alter processing in SI–SII (primary and second somatosensory areas), but may have biased the transfer to, and the representation of pain in short-term memory buffers (prefrontal), as well as the affective assignment to this representation (temporal pole). Memory encoding and recall, rather than sensory processing, appear to be modulated by empathy with others' physical suffering.

Key words: attention; emotion; pain; electrophysiology; empathy; prefrontal

---

Received May 27, 2006; revised Aug. 30, 2006; accepted Aug. 30, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Fabio Godinho, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Equipe Mixte INSERM 342, Central Integration of Pain, Hôpital Neurologique Pierre Wertheimer, 59 Boulevard Pinel, 69003 Rez-de-Jardin Lyon, France. Email: fabiogodinho{at}wanadoo.fr

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F. Benuzzi, F. Lui, D. Duzzi, P. F. Nichelli, and C. A. Porro Does It Look Painful or Disgusting? Ask Your Parietal and Cingulate Cortex J. Neurosci., January 23, 2008; 28(4): 923 - 931. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help