Anticipatory and pain evoked potential correlates of placebo analgesia
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1
Salford Royal Hospital Manchester, United Kingdom
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2
University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Introduction: Placebo has been shown to be a powerful analgesic with corresponding reduction in the activation of the pain matrix in the brain. However, the response to placebo treatment is highly variable. It is unclear how anticipatory and pain evoked potentials are affected by the treatment.
Method: We induced placebo analgesia by conditioning subjects to expect anaesthetic cream on one arm. Pain ratings where assessed before, during and after conditioning. Using Electroencephalography (EEG) we measured anticipatory neural reponses and pain evoked potentials to laser stimuli to determine how anticipation of analgesia affected the response to a placebo manipulation.
Result: We found a significant reduction in pain evoked potentials after conditioning. Anticipatory responses were found to be significantly correlated with pain evoked potentials both before and after conditioning. The change in pain rating (pre-post conditioning) for the treatment group was predicted by the change in the anticipatory response (pre-post) rather than the change in the pain evoked potentials (pre-post).
Conclusion: Placebo responders are influenced by their anticipation regarding the upcoming pain stimulus more than the actual pain stimulus.
Conference:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Türkiye, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Decision Making and Response Selection
Citation:
Morton
D,
Watson
A,
Brown
C,
El-Deredy
W and
Jones
A
(2008). Anticipatory and pain evoked potential correlates of placebo analgesia.
Conference Abstract:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.202
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Received:
08 Dec 2008;
Published Online:
08 Dec 2008.
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Correspondence:
Debbie Morton, Salford Royal Hospital Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, debbie.morton@manchester.ac.uk