THE ENCODING OF SENSORY INFORMATION AND EXPECTATIONS IN THE CEREBRAL PROCESSING OF PAIN

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Pain serves to protect the body. To this end, the brain translates sensory information about threat into pain. This translation is, however, not linear but substantially influenced by an individual’s expectations. Such expectancy effects represent an essential part of every pain treatment. Moreover, expectations can significantly contribute to the development and long-term outcomes of chronic pain. However, how the brain encodes sensory information and expectations in the processing of pain is not fully understood yet. To address this question, we will perform a series of electroencephalography (EEG) experiments. We will build upon recent predictive coding concepts of brain function and pain processing to systematically assess the role of brain activity in the signaling of sensory information, expectations, prediction errors and pain perception. In four experiments, experimental pain stimuli will be applied to 50 healthy human participants and noxious stimulus intensity and the participants’ expectations of pain intensity will be manipulated independently. Analyses will apply most recent model-based functional imaging approaches to state-of-the-art analyses of EEG data. Harnessing the high temporal resolution of EEG, we will quantify the relationship between brain activity at different latencies and frequencies and the encoding of stimulus intensity, expectations (predictions), prediction errors and combinations of these elements. The synopsis of the different experiments will show how these relationships generalize to different manipulations of sensory information and expectations. As the interaction of sensory information and expectations is at the heart of the pain experience, the project promises fundamental insights into the brain mechanisms of pain. Moreover, as the interaction of sensory information and expectations is often altered in chronic pain, the project promises to further the understanding of the brain mechanisms of chronic pain. Finally, as expectations significantly shape treatment effects in pain therapy, the project might help to understand and optimize pain treatment.