title: Emotional modulation of autonomic responses to painful trigeminal stimulation.
abstract: Dysregulation of supraspinal pain modulation may contribute to chronic pain, including head/face pain. Our laboratory has shown that emotional picture-viewing reliably modulates subjective and physiological pain responses to noxious extracranial (sural nerve) stimulation, suggesting this is a valid method of studying supraspinal modulation. However, to study head/face pain, it is important to determine whether responses evoked by trigeminal stimulation are also modulated. In the present study (34 healthy participants), emotionally-charged pictures (unpleasant, neutral, pleasant) were presented during which painful trigeminal stimulations were delivered during and in between pictures. Autonomic responses to each shock (pain-evoked HR acceleration, pain-evoked skin conductance response [SCR]) were recorded. Consistent with research on extracranial pain, autonomic responses were larger during unpleasant pictures and smaller during pleasant pictures, with linear trends explaining 23% of the variance in pain-evoked HR and 35% of the variance in pain-evoked SCR (ps<.05). Implications for studying cranial pain are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Tulsa, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA.
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Jamie L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rhudy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011601:Psychophysics; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013497:Sural Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult