Neuronale Oszillationen und Synchronisation in der menschlichen Schmerzverarbeitung
Final Report Abstract
The project investigated how brain activity subserves the complex experience of pain. We used electroencephalography to assess the functional significance of neuronal oscillations, i.e. rhythmic neuronal activity at different frequencies for the perception of and behavioural reactions to pain. Our results revealed that neuronal oscillations at different frequencies code for different aspects of pain perception. Neuronal activity at frequencies below 10 Hz code for temporally stable aspects of pain perception whereas neuronal activity at frequencies higher than 40 Hz termed gamma oscillations code for variable aspects of pain perception. Pain-related gamma oscillations relate to attentional modulations of pain and to the initiation and execution of motor responses to pain. Moreover, in a brain reading approach, the pattern of neuronal oscillations at different frequencies can be used to decode the perception of pain from brain activity. Taken together, the results have provided novel insights into the brain mechanisms of pain. They represent the basis for understanding the pathology of chronic pain and may help to establish an objective neuronal marker of pain. The results have been published; in addition, the results were published and discussed in the media (Neue Zürcher Zeitung).
Publications
- (2009) Functional integration within the human pain system as revealed by Granger causality. Hum Brain Mapp 30:4025-32
Ploner M, Schoffelen JM, Schnitzler A, Gross J
- (2010) Gamma oscillations as a neuronal correlate of the attentional effects of pain. Pain 150:302-8
Tiemann L, Schulz E, Gross J, Ploner M
- (2011) Neurophysiological coding of traits and states in the perception of pain. Cereb Cortex 21:2408-14
Schulz E, Tiemann L, Schuster T, Gross J, Ploner M
- (2012) Behavioral and neuronal investigations of hypervigilance in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome. PLoS One 7:e35068
Tiemann L, Schulz E, Winkelmann A, Ronel J, Henningsen P, Ploner M
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035068) - (2012) Decoding an individual's sensitivity to pain from the multivariate analysis of EEG data. Cereb Cortex 22:1118-23
Schulz E, Zherdin A, Tiemann L, Plant C, Ploner M
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhr186) - (2012) Gamma oscillations are involved in the sensorimotor transformation of pain. J Neurophysiol 108:1025-31
Schulz E, Tiemann L, Witkovsky V, Schmidt P, Ploner M
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00186.2012)
