title: Expectancy of pain is influenced by motor preparation: a high-resolution EEG study of cortical alpha rhythms.
abstract: This high-resolution electroencephalographic (EEG) study on alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) evaluated whether anticipatory activity precedes a sensorimotor interaction induced by concomitant painful stimuli and sensorimotor demand. An omitted-stimulus paradigm induced the expectancy of the painful stimulation at the left hand. In the experimental condition, the painful stimulation was associated with a visual go/no-go task triggering right-hand movements. Two control conditions manipulated the painful sensorimotor interaction variable. Compared with the control conditions, the expectancy of the painful sensorimotor interaction increased the high-band alpha EEG oscillations over the right primary sensorimotor cortex contralateral to the nociceptive stimuli and, to a lesser extent, over the centroparietal midline. These findings suggest that concomitant painful stimuli and simple sensorimotor go/no-go demands affect anticipatory activity as revealed by alpha ERD.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisiologia Umana e Farmacologia, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy. claudio.babiloni@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Babiloni
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brancucci
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Capotosto
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arendt-Nielsen
authors.forename: Andrew C N
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Paolo Maria
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rossini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D003071:Cognition; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D009043:Motor Activity; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis