Studies have shown an association between sensorimotor α-oscillation and pain perception. It suggests the potential use of neurofeedback (NFB) training for pain modulation through modifying sensorimotor α-oscillation. Here, a single-session NFB training protocol targeted on increasing sensorimotor α-oscillations was applied to forty-five healthy participants. Pain thresholds to nociceptive laser stimulations and pain ratings (intensity and unpleasantness) to identical laser painful stimulations were assessed immediately before and after NFB training. Participants had larger pain thresholds, but rated the identical painful laser stimulation as more unpleasant after NFB training. These pain measurements were further compared between participants with high or low NFB training efficacy that was quantified as the regression slope of α-oscillation throughout the ten training blocks. A significant increase in pain thresholds was observed among participants with high-efficacy; whereas a significant increase in pain ratings was observed among participants with low-efficacy. These results suggested that NFB training decreased the sensory-discriminative aspect of pain, but increased the affective-motivational aspect of pain, whereas both pain modulations were dependent upon the NFB training efficacy. Importantly, correlation analysis across all participants revealed that a greater NFB training efficacy predicted a greater increase in pain thresholds particularly at hand contralateral to NFB target site, but no significant correlation was observed between NFB training efficacy and modulation on pain ratings. It thus provided causal evidence for a link between sensorimotor α-oscillation and the sensory-discriminative aspect of pain, and highlighted the need for personalized neurofeedback for the benefits on pain modulation at the individual level. Future studies can adopt a double-blind sham-controlled protocol to validate NFB training induced pain modulation.

研究表明感觉运动α振荡与疼痛知觉之间存在关联。这表明神经反馈（NFB）训练可通过改变感觉运动α振荡来调节疼痛。在这里，针对四十五名健康参与者应用了针对增加感觉运动α振荡的单节NFB训练方案。在NFB训练之前和之后立即评估伤害性激光刺激的疼痛阈值和相同激光疼痛刺激的疼痛等级（强度和不适）。参与者的疼痛阈值较大，但在进行NFB训练后，将相同的疼痛激光刺激评定为不愉快。在具有较高或较低NFB训练功效的参与者之间进一步比较了这些疼痛测量值，量化为整个十个训练区块中α振荡的回归斜率。在高效率参与者中，观察到疼痛阈值显着增加。而低效参与者的疼痛等级显着增加。这些结果表明，NFB训练减少了疼痛的感觉辨别方面，但增加了疼痛的情感-动机方面，而两种疼痛的调节均取决于NFB训练的效果。重要的是，所有参与者之间的相关性分析表明，更大的NFB训练功效预示着疼痛阈值的增加更大，尤其是在与NFB目标部位对侧的手，但是在NFB训练效果和疼痛等级的调节之间未观察到明显的相关性。因此，它为感觉运动α振荡与疼痛的感觉区别方面之间的联系提供了因果关系，并强调了个性化神经反馈的必要性，以在个体层面上改善疼痛。未来的研究可以采用双盲假手术控制方案来验证NFB训练引起的疼痛调节。