The role of sensorimotor incongruence in pathological pain
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bath
Department Name: Psychology
Abstract
For any given movement, our brains generate a prediction of what the outcome should be. This prediction is then compared with the feedback that is received once the movement is initiated, enabling appropriate corrections to be made. Following immobilisation due to injury or over-training, the cortical representation of a body part may change. This seems to be the case in certain populations, such as professional typists, musicians and in amputees with phantom limb sensations, all of which are often associated with chronic pain. The sensorimotor theory of pain postulates that certain types of chronic pain arise because a mismatch in body representation leads to an incongruence between the actual and predicted sensory outcomes of movements. In turn, this triggers neural signals for pain to alert the individual of potential harm to their body. Such cortical origins of pain are thought to contribute to repetitive strain injury, back pain, whiplash and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), which is a disorder that can follow relatively minor injury. A better understanding of sensorimotor integration in pain could facilitate better prevention and treatment of painful conditions.
I will use a well-characterized measures of body representation, motor prediction and sensory-motor integration to test the sensorimotor theory of pain, by comparing CRPS patients with healthy controls. To further explore these phenomena, I will conduct further experiments where the controls will be exposed to two possible drivers of CRPS; pain and sensory disturbance. This will be done by administering pain inducing or anesthetizing cream to healthy controls hands.
After a few minutes of tool use, the cortical representation of our body is updated to include the tool. I will examined this using a robust measure of this phenomena, the crossmodal congruency task (Maravita et al., 2002), which will indicate whether patients with CRPS have difficulties in updating their body representation, due to pain or sensory disturbance.
Typically, imagined and real movement have a similar duration (Papaxanthis et al., 2002). This suggests that we recruit motor processes when imagining a movement. By comparing these imagined and actual movement in CRPS, research will be conducted to explore problems in generating predictive motor signals, which arise due to pain or sensory disturbance.
Manipulating participants vision can be used to evaluate the integration of motor predictions and sensory information. Using motion-tracking equipment, I will examine whether CRPS patients and controls, experiencing pain or sensory disturbance, show impaired adaptation to manipulated vision. If this is the case, it would indicate impaired sensory-motor integration.
As part of the GW4 MRC BioMed Doctoral Training Partnership, this project will address the area of neuroscience and mental health by investigating the cortical underpinnings of pathological pain.
I will use a well-characterized measures of body representation, motor prediction and sensory-motor integration to test the sensorimotor theory of pain, by comparing CRPS patients with healthy controls. To further explore these phenomena, I will conduct further experiments where the controls will be exposed to two possible drivers of CRPS; pain and sensory disturbance. This will be done by administering pain inducing or anesthetizing cream to healthy controls hands.
After a few minutes of tool use, the cortical representation of our body is updated to include the tool. I will examined this using a robust measure of this phenomena, the crossmodal congruency task (Maravita et al., 2002), which will indicate whether patients with CRPS have difficulties in updating their body representation, due to pain or sensory disturbance.
Typically, imagined and real movement have a similar duration (Papaxanthis et al., 2002). This suggests that we recruit motor processes when imagining a movement. By comparing these imagined and actual movement in CRPS, research will be conducted to explore problems in generating predictive motor signals, which arise due to pain or sensory disturbance.
Manipulating participants vision can be used to evaluate the integration of motor predictions and sensory information. Using motion-tracking equipment, I will examine whether CRPS patients and controls, experiencing pain or sensory disturbance, show impaired adaptation to manipulated vision. If this is the case, it would indicate impaired sensory-motor integration.
As part of the GW4 MRC BioMed Doctoral Training Partnership, this project will address the area of neuroscience and mental health by investigating the cortical underpinnings of pathological pain.
People |
ORCID iD |
Axel Vitterso (Student) |
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MR/N013794/1 | 01/10/2016 | 30/09/2025 | |||
1793344 | Studentship | MR/N013794/1 | 01/10/2016 | 31/03/2020 | Axel Vitterso |
Description | Financial Aid Award for the 17th World Congress on Pain |
Amount | $1,000 (USD) |
Organisation | International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United States |
Start | 09/2018 |
End | 09/2018 |
Description | GW4 BioMed DTP Flexible Funding Supplement |
Amount | £1,353 (GBP) |
Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2018 |
End | 08/2019 |
Description | GW4 BioMed MRC DTP - National Productivity Investment Fund award |
Amount | £7,692 (GBP) |
Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2020 |
End | 06/2020 |
Description | GW4 BioMed MRC DTP - National Productivity Investment Fund award/transition to post-doc |
Amount | £4,502 (GBP) |
Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2020 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Guarantors of Brain - Travel grant |
Amount | £600 (GBP) |
Organisation | Guarantors of Brain |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2019 |
End | 09/2019 |
Description | SASP Congress Oslo 2019: Travel Grant |
Amount | 3,750 kr (SEK) |
Organisation | ScandinavianAssociation for the Study of Pain |
Sector | Learned Society |
Start | 04/2019 |
End | 04/2019 |
Description | University of Bath - PhD Student Support Fund |
Amount | £1,480 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bath |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2019 |
End | 11/2019 |
Description | NPIF Innovation Placement Fund to return to Utrecht University |
Organisation | Utrecht University |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | NPIF Innovation Placement Fund were secured to conduct a research visit to work with the AttentionLab at Utrecht University. |
Collaborator Contribution | The colaborators expertise directly contributes to the project. Their unique equipment is fundamental to this experimental work. |
Impact | No outputs to date. The project combines eye tracking, motion capture, and psychophysics. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Transition to post-doc to work with Dr Siri Leknes |
Organisation | University of Oslo |
Country | Norway |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Expertise in bodily and spatial perception. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr Siri Leknes is a world leading expert om opioid modulation of pain and reward behaviours in healthy humans. |
Impact | Applications for postdoctoral fellowships. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Bath Taps into Science: Panel Discussion on Chronic Pain |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Bath Taps into Science 2019: Panel discussion on chronic pain. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://bathtapsintoscience.com/events/eventsforadults/347-emma-borg-understanding-chronic-pain-talk-... |
Description | Invited talk at the Clinical Pain Research Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited talk at the Clinical Pain Research Meeting for pain clinicians working at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases. The talk sparked conversation and helped dissemination of the results directly to the expert clinicians working in the field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | School Visit (Brook House) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk to the Sixth Form pupils at Down House tilted "The brain & pathological pain" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |