Is Pain Rewarding? Proposal for a Current Stimulator

该提案要求提供资金，以获得电流刺激器，这是一种适用于人类的无创疼痛刺激器械。该设备将使克莱·霍罗伊德博士能够扩展他对奖励处理的大脑机制的研究计划，包括对疼痛避免的神经机制的研究。霍罗伊德博士提出了一个非常有影响力的理论，即意外的奖励--比如在赌博任务中赢得一小笔钱--会引发一种被称为“奖励积极性”的脑电波。该理论还认为，损失和错误（无论这些是否是预期的）不会引起奖励积极性。该理论已经在世界各地的许多实验室进行了测试，证据确凿。然而，最近的研究发现，意外的身体惩罚也会引发奖励积极性。这些发现对该理论提出了严重的挑战，因为该理论预测奖励积极性只会由意外的积极事件引起。如果事实上疼痛刺激如所声称的那样引发了这种脑波，那么这种神经系统的标准理论是不正确的。Holroyd医生计划使用疼痛刺激器来研究该问题。

This proposal is a request for funds to acquire a current stimulator, which is a non-invasive pain stimulation device suitable for use with humans. The apparatus would enable Dr. Clay Holroyd to extend his research program on the brain mechanisms of reward processing to include work on the neural mechanisms of pain avoidance. Dr. Holroyd has proposed a highly influential theory that unexpected rewards - such as winning a small amount of money in a gambling task - elicit a brainwave called the "reward positivity". The theory also holds that losses and errors (whether these are expected or not) do not elicit the reward positivity. The theory has been tested in numerous laboratories worldwide and the evidence for it is strong. However, recent studies have found that unexpected physical punishments also elicit the reward positivity. These findings present a serious challenge to the theory, because the theory predicts that the reward positivity should only be elicited by unexpected positive events. If in fact pain stimuli elicit this brainwave, as claimed, then the standard theory of this neural system is incorrect. Dr. Holroyd plans to utilize the pain stimulator to investigate this issue.