All submissions of the EM system will be redirected to Online Manuscript Submission System. Authors are requested to submit articles directly to Online Manuscript Submission System of respective journal.

Abstract

The Neural Basis of Self-Touch in a Pain-Free Situation

Author(s): Yoshiaki Kikuchi, Maki Shirato, Akiko Machida, Toshie Inoue, Madoka Noriuchi

Abstract

Objective: Self-touch is thought to be an act of coping with harmful or stressful situations, based on the mechanism which suppresses somatosensory perception as well as somatosensory cortex activity, and sympathetic activity. In addition, this suppression can be observed in even nonpainful and non-stressful situations. However, its detailed neural mechanism remains unknown. Several studied have shown, not only that the descending pain modulatory system (DPMS) plays critical roles in painful situations, but also that there is intrinsic functional connectivity in the DPMS in even non-painful situations. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that the neural system consisting of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), amygdala and rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) would play a basic role in self-touch, and we here investigated interactive effects of these regions in a pain-free self-touch situation.

Methods:  We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate brain activity induced by mere self-touch (rubbing the left hand with the right) in a pain-free and stress-free situation, and carried out the Physio-Physiological Interaction (PPI) analysis to investigate the modulatory effects of brain activity.


Full-Text | PDF

Share this       
500 Internal Server Error

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator at [email protected] to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Ledger Live desktop: Your secure gateway to crypto. Secure your assets with confidence using Ledger Live desktop. Experience a secure gateway that prioritizes the safety of your digital assets, providing peace of mind.