Neurocognitive evidence for mental imagery-driven hypoalgesic and hyperalgesic pain regulation

Using mental imagery to reduce or eliminate pain...

http://goo.gl/eX4jJZ


Highlights

• Specific mental imagery contents bias pain perception towards hypoalgesic and hyperalgesic outcomes
• Mental imagery influences pain-related perceptual decision-making in terms of stimulus discriminability and response bias
• Pain-related N2 amplitudes are modulated by mental-imagery content
• Cortical activity associated with pain inhibition likely reflects cognitive inhibitory control
• Cortical activity associated with pain facilitation likely reflects salience and emotional processing