title: Brain Rhythms of Pain.
abstract: Pain is an integrative phenomenon that results from dynamic interactions between sensory and contextual (i.e., cognitive, emotional, and motivational) processes. In the brain the experience of pain is associated with neuronal oscillations and synchrony at different frequencies. However, an overarching framework for the significance of oscillations for pain remains lacking. Recent concepts relate oscillations at different frequencies to the routing of information flow in the brain and the signaling of predictions and prediction errors. The application of these concepts to pain promises insights into how flexible routing of information flow coordinates diverse processes that merge into the experience of pain. Such insights might have implications for the understanding and treatment of chronic pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and TUMNeuroimaging Center, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: markus.ploner@tum.de.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ploner
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neuroradiology and Psychiatry and TUMNeuroimaging Center, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sorg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gross
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: brain; information flow; oscillations; pain; predictive coding