Dissociation between individual differences in self-reported pain intensity and underlying fMRI brain activation
Marie‐Eve Hoeppli, Hadas Nahman‐Averbuch, William Hinkle, Eric Leon, James Peugh, Marina López‐Solà, Christopher D. King, Kenneth R. Goldschneider, Robert C. Coghill
Abstract
Pain is an individual experience. Previous studies have highlighted changes in brain activation and morphology associated with within- and interindividual pain perception. In this study we sought to characterize brain mechanisms associated with between-individual differences in pain in a sample of healthy adolescent and adult participants (N = 101). Here we show that pain ratings varied widely across individuals and that individuals reported changes in pain evoked by small differences in stimulus intensity in a manner congruent with their pain sensitivity, further supporting the utility of subjective reporting as a measure of the true individual experience. Furthermore, brain activation related to interindividual differences in pain was not detected, despite clear sensitivity of the Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent (BOLD) signal to small differences in noxious stimulus intensities within individuals. These findings suggest fMRI may not be a useful objective measure to infer reported pain intensity.