Neural basis of contagious itch and why some people are more prone to it
Neural basis of contagious itch and why some people are more prone to it
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1216160109
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发表时间：
2012-11-27
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Ward, Jamie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Holle, Henning;Warne, Kimberley;Ward, Jamie
看着别人挠自己会引起感知者的痒感。这提供了一个独特的机会来表征瘙痒的主观体验的神经基础，独立于外周输入的变化。在这项研究中，我们首先确定瘙痒的社会传染本质上是一种规范反应（大多数人都经历过），并且传染的程度与神经质的特质差异有关（即，体验负面情绪的倾向），但不能移情。观看视频剪辑的人抓挠（相对于控制视频的轻敲）激活，如功能性神经成像，许多神经区域链接到物理感知的瘙痒，包括前岛，初级体感，和前额叶（BA44）和前运动皮层。此外，在左侧BA44，BA6，和初级躯体感觉皮层的活动与瘙痒的主观评级，和左侧BA44的反应反映了神经质的个体差异。我们的研究结果强调了在没有躯体感觉刺激的情况下，躯体感觉知觉的主观体验的中枢神经生成。我们推测，这种中枢“瘙痒矩阵”的习惯性激活可能会引起心因性瘙痒障碍。
Watching someone scratch himself can induce feelings of itchiness in the perceiver. This provides a unique opportunity to characterize the neural basis of subjective experiences of itch, independent of changes in peripheral inputs. In this study, we first established that the social contagion of itch is essentially a normative response (experienced by most people), and that the degree of contagion is related to trait differences in neuroticism (i.e., the tendency to experience negative emotions), but not to empathy. Watching video clips of someone scratching (relative to control videos of tapping) activated, as indicated by functional neuroimaging, many of the neural regions linked to the physical perception of itch, including anterior insular, primary somatosensory, and prefrontal (BA44) and premotor cortices. Moreover, activity in the left BA44, BA6, and primary somatosensory cortex was correlated with subjective ratings of itchiness, and the responsivity of the left BA44 reflected individual differences in neuroticism. Our findings high-light the central neural generation of the subjective experience of somatosensory perception in the absence of somatosensory stimulation. We speculate that the habitual activation of this central "itch matrix" may give rise to psychogenic itch disorders.