Steppacher Inga, Schindler Sebastian, Kissler Johanna
Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany.
Cephalalgia. 2016 Mar;36(3):249-57. doi: 10.1177/0333102415587705. Epub 2015 May 21.
Migraine is a disorder of periodic disabling headache. Facilitated cortical responsivity has been suggested as one predisposing factor. Although the underlying mechanisms of migraine attack onsets are not fully understood, facilitated cortical responsivity has been suggested as one predisposing factor. Here, we investigate if enhanced cortical responsivity is reflected in altered event-related potentials during processing of complex pictures.
Altogether, 16 migraine patients and 16 healthy volunteers participated in this study. Each patient had a diagnosed migraine and was headache- and medication-free for the study. Participants watched positive, negative and neutral pictures from the international affective picture system. An electroencephalogram was recorded during picture presentation. Afterwards, participants were asked to rate the pictures for valence and arousal.
Migraine patients showed significantly more negative-going early event-related potential components from 100 ms to 180 ms to all picture categories over occipital regions as well as more positive-going late potentials over central regions. Patients and controls did not differ in valence and arousal ratings for the international-affective picture system.
Patients with migraine seem to react cortically more intensely to all kinds of pictorial stimuli, regardless of emotional content. This facilitated processing may be related to the high cortical responsivity shown in various other event-related potential studies and might contribute to the recurring intense headache attacks.
偏头痛是一种周期性致残性头痛疾病。皮质反应性增强被认为是一个诱发因素。尽管偏头痛发作的潜在机制尚未完全明确，但皮质反应性增强已被视为一个诱发因素。在此，我们研究在处理复杂图片过程中，增强的皮质反应性是否反映在事件相关电位的改变上。
共有16名偏头痛患者和16名健康志愿者参与本研究。每位患者均被诊断为偏头痛，且在研究期间无头痛症状且未服用药物。参与者观看了国际情感图片系统中的正性、负性和中性图片。在图片呈现过程中记录脑电图。之后，要求参与者对图片的效价和唤醒度进行评分。
偏头痛患者在枕区对所有图片类别从100毫秒到180毫秒显示出显著更多的负向早期事件相关电位成分，以及在中央区显示出更多的正向晚期电位。患者和对照组在国际情感图片系统的效价和唤醒度评分上没有差异。
偏头痛患者似乎对各种图像刺激在皮质层面上反应更强烈，无论其情感内容如何。这种易化的处理过程可能与其他各种事件相关电位研究中显示的高皮质反应性有关，并且可能导致反复出现的剧烈头痛发作。
