title: Active pain coping is associated with the response in real-time fMRI neurofeedback during pain.
abstract: Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) neurofeedback is used as a tool to gain voluntary control of activity in various brain regions. Little emphasis has been put on the influence of cognitive and personality traits on neurofeedback efficacy and baseline activity. Here, we assessed the effect of individual pain coping on rt-fMRI neurofeedback during heat-induced pain. Twenty-eight healthy subjects completed the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ) prior to scanning. The first part of the fMRI experiment identified target regions using painful heat stimulation. Then, subjects were asked to down-regulate the pain target brain region during four neurofeedback runs with painful heat stimulation. Functional MRI analysis included correlation analysis between fMRI activation and pain ratings as well as CSQ ratings. At the behavioral level, the active pain coping (first principal component of CSQ) was correlated with pain ratings during neurofeedback. Concerning neuroimaging, pain sensitive regions were negatively correlated with pain coping. During neurofeedback, the pain coping was positively correlated with activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and visual cortex. Thermode temperature was negatively correlated with anterior insula and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation. In conclusion, self-reported pain coping mechanisms and pain sensitivity are a source of variance during rt-fMRI neurofeedback possibly explaining variations in regulation success. In particular, active coping seems to be associated with successful pain regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, CIBM, University Hospital Geneva, Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. emmert.kirsten@gmail.com.|Medical Image Processing Laboratory, Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. emmert.kirsten@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Emmert
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Breimhorst
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroradiology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bauermann
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Birklein
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Cora
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rebhorn
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, CIBM, University Hospital Geneva, Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland.|Medical Image Processing Laboratory, Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Dimitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van De Ville
authors.affiliation: Affidea Centre de Diagnostic Radiologique de Carouge CDRC, Geneva, Switzerland.|Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.|Department of Surgical Sciences, Radiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.|Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haller
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D058765:Neurofeedback / Q000379:methods; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010146:Pain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D058748:Pain Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: CSQ; Neurofeedback; Pain; Pain coping; Real-time fMRI; fMRI