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Current clinical and experimental literature strongly supports the phenomenon of reduced pain perception whilst attention is distracted away from noxious stimuli. This study used functional MRI to elucidate the underlying neural systems and mechanisms involved. An analogue of the Stroop task, the counting Stroop, was used as a cognitive distraction task whilst subjects received intermittent painful thermal stimuli. Pain intensity scores were significantly reduced when subjects took part in the more cognitively demanding interference task of the counting Stroop than in the less demanding neutral task. When subjects were distracted during painful stimulation, brain areas associated with the affective division of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and orbitofrontal regions showed increased activation. In contrast, many areas of the pain matrix (i.e. thalamus, insula, cognitive division of the ACC) displayed reduced activation, supporting the behavioural results of reduced pain perception.

Original publication

DOI

10.1093/brain/awf022

Type

Journal article

Journal

Brain

Publication Date

02/2002

Volume

125

Pages

310 - 319

Keywords

Adult, Attention, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Pain, Pain Measurement, Temperature, Time Factors