This study was designed to investigate the neural mechanism of cognitive modulation of pain via a reappraisal strategy with high temporal resolution. The EEG signal was recorded from 29 participants who were instructed to down-regulate, up-regulate, or maintain their pain experience. The L2 minimum norm source reconstruction method was used to localize areas in which a significant effect of the instruction was present. Down-regulating pain by reappraisal exerted a robust effect on pain processing from as early as ~100 ms that diminished the activity of limbic brain regions: the anterior cingulate cortex, right orbitofrontal cortex, left anterior temporal region, and left insula. However, compared with the no-regulation condition, the neural activity was similarly attenuated in the up- and down-regulation conditions. We suggest that this effect could be ascribed to the cognitive load that was associated with the execution of a cognitively demanding reappraisal task that could have produced a general attenuation of pain-related areas regardless of the aim of the reappraisal task (i.e., up- or down-regulation attempts). These findings indicate that reappraisal effects reflect the joint influence of both reappraisal-specific (cognitive change) and unspecific (cognitive demand) factors, thus pointing to the importance of cautiously selected control conditions that allow the modulating impact of both processes to be distinguished.

中文翻译：

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重新评估疼痛的动力：认知变化和精神负荷的共同贡献。

本研究旨在通过具有高时间分辨率的重新评估策略来研究疼痛的认知调节的神经机制。记录了29名参与者的EEG信号，他们被指示下调，上调或维持他们的疼痛经历。使用L2最小范数源重构方法来定位存在该指令显着效果的区域。通过重新评估来下调疼痛在大约100毫秒之内就对疼痛的处理产生了强大的作用，从而削弱了边缘大脑区域的活动：前扣带回皮层，右眶额皮层，左前颞区和左绝缘层。但是，与无调节条件相比，在上调和下调条件下神经活动同样减弱。我们建议，这种影响可归因于与执行认知要求较高的重新评估任务相关的认知负荷，该任务可能会导致疼痛相关区域的总体衰减，而不论重新评估任务的目的是什么（即向上或向下）下调尝试）。这些发现表明，重新评估效果反映了特定于重新评估（认知变化）和非特定（认知需求）因素的共同影响，因此指出了谨慎选择的控制条件的重要性，该条件可以区分两个过程的调节影响。，上调或下调尝试）。这些发现表明，重新评估效果反映了特定于重新评估（认知变化）和非特定（认知需求）因素的共同影响，因此指出了谨慎选择的控制条件的重要性，该条件可以区分两个过程的调节影响。，上调或下调尝试）。这些发现表明，重新评估效果反映了特定于重新评估（认知变化）和非特定（认知需求）因素的共同影响，因此指出了谨慎选择的控制条件的重要性，该条件可以区分两个过程的调节影响。