"Brain mechanisms of nociceptive and non-nociceptive motor reflex regulation during sensory, motor and cognitive tasks."

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BRAIN MECHANISMS OF NOCICEPTIVE AND NON-NOCICEPTIVE MOTOR REFLEX REGULATION DURING SENSORY, MOTOR AND COGNITIVE TASKS. The spinal cord is one of the first relays of the central nervous system to receive somatosensory input from the periphery. This information is sent to the brain and may evoke perception, emotions, physiological responses, cognitive processes and behaviours. However, the brain exerts a powerful control over incoming information from the periphery and spinal cord. Indeed, several regions of the brain send descending commands that can block or amplify the transmission of peripheral information and associated motor reflexes, produced by the spinal cord. These bidirectional interactions between the spinal cord and the brain are at the core of the present proposal. Using innovative electrophysiological and brain imaging methods, the present research program will investigate which regions and which functions of the brain are involved in the encoding and regulation of two types of spinal motor reflexes, the H-reflex (evoked by innocuous stimulations) and the RIII-reflex (evoked by noxious stimulations). In addition, brain mechanisms allowing inhibition of spinal motor reflexes during motor suppression and analgesia will be examined. Altogether, these experiments will further our understanding of how the brain computes information related to spinal motor reflexes and how it acts on them to regulate motor responses and pain. In addition to benefit to the fields of pain and motor control, this work will provide scientific bases for common interventions that are used to induce analgesia, including counter-irritation (the pain-inhibit-pain phenomenon) and manipulation of attention.