title: Emotional modulation of pain-related evoked potentials.
abstract: To investigate whether cortical processing of trigeminal nociception is modulated by emotion, the N2 and P2 components of the pain-related evoked potential (PREP) were recorded in response to noxious stimulation of the supraorbital nerve while participants viewed neutral, pleasant and unpleasant pictures. The nerve was stimulated at 125% of pain threshold via a nociceptive-specific concentric electrode to selectively activate A-delta pain fibres. The N2 and P2 pain-related evoked potentials were similarly influenced by emotional priming: the amplitude of both potentials decreased monotonically from viewing neutral to pleasant to unpleasant pictures. These findings show that cortical processing of trigeminal nociception is modulated by emotion. We explain our findings in terms of the effects of picture viewing on attention.
authors.affiliation: School of Sport & Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK. c.m.ring@bham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ring
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kavussanu
authors.forename: Adrian R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Willoughby
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D010775:Photic Stimulation