Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum Rechts Der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Department of Radiology, University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, A: Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, München, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2023 May 22;13(1):8273. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35294-2.
The experience of pain has been dissociated into two interwoven aspects: a sensory-discriminative aspect and an affective-motivational aspect. We aimed to explore which of the pain descriptors is more deeply rooted in the human brain. Participants were asked to evaluate applied cold pain. The majority of the trials showed distinct ratings: some were rated higher for unpleasantness and others for intensity. We compared the relationship between functional data recorded from 7 T MRI with unpleasantness and intensity ratings and revealed a stronger relationship between cortical data and unpleasantness ratings. The present study underlines the importance of the emotional-affective aspects of pain-related cortical processes in the brain. The findings corroborate previous studies showing a higher sensitivity to pain unpleasantness compared to ratings of pain intensity. For the processing of pain in healthy subjects, this effect may reflect the more direct and intuitive evaluation of emotional aspects of the pain system, which is to prevent harm and to preserve the physical integrity of the body.
感觉辨别和情感动机。我们旨在探索哪种疼痛描述在人类大脑中更为根深蒂固。参与者被要求评估施加的冷痛。大多数试验显示出明显的评分差异：有些试验在不愉快方面的评分较高，而另一些试验在强度方面的评分较高。我们比较了从 7T MRI 记录的功能数据与不愉快和强度评分之间的关系，并揭示了皮质数据与不愉快评分之间更强的关系。本研究强调了与大脑中疼痛相关皮质过程的情感方面相关的疼痛的重要性。这些发现与之前的研究相吻合，表明与疼痛强度评分相比，对疼痛不愉快感的敏感性更高。对于健康受试者的疼痛处理，这种效应可能反映了对疼痛系统情感方面的更直接和直观的评估，这是为了防止伤害和保护身体的物理完整性。
