Neural correlates of the attentional bias towards pain-related faces in fibromyalgia patients: An ERP study using a dot-probe task, 2022, Mercardo

Highlights

• Fibromyalgia is characterized by a dysfunctional allocation of processing resources towards pain-related events (attentional bias to threat).
• Pain-related faces were able to elicit a differentiated neural and behavioural pattern in fibromyalgia patients as compared to control group.
• P2 amplitudes were enhanced in response to pain-related faces for fibromyalgia patients (attentional bias: automatic stages of processing).
• N2a amplitudes were dismissed for fibromyalgia patients (poor distribution of attention: strategic stages of processing).

Abstract

Background

One of the major cognitive deficits in fibromyalgia has been linked to the hypervigilance phenomenon. It is mainly reflected as a negative bias for allocating attentional resources towards both threatening and pain-related information. Although the interest in its study has recently grown, the neural temporal dynamics of the attentional bias in fibromyalgia still remains an open question.

Method
Fifty participants (25 fibromyalgia patients and 25 healthy control subjects) performed a dot-probe task. Two types of facial expressions (pain-related and neutral) were employed as signal stimuli. Then, as a target stimulus, a single dot replaced the location of one of these two faces. Event-related potentials (ERP) in response to facial expressions and target stimulation (i.e., dot) were recorded. Reaction time (RT) and accuracy measures in the experimental task were collected as behavioural outcomes.

Results
Temporal dynamics of brain electrical activity were analysed on two ERP components (P2 and N2a) sensitive to the facial expressions meaning. Pain-related faces elicited higher frontal P2 amplitudes than neutral faces for the whole sample. Interestingly, an interaction effect between group and facial expressions was also found showing that pain-related faces elicited enhanced P2 amplitudes (at fronto-central regions, in this case) compared to neutral faces only when the group of patients was considered. Furthermore, higher P2 amplitudes were observed in response to pain-related faces in patients with fibromyalgia compared to healthy control participants. Additionally, a shorter latency of P2 (at centro-parietal regions) was also detected for pain-related facial expressions compared to neutral faces. Regarding the amplitude of N2a, it was lower for patients as compared to the control group. Non-relevant effects of the target stimulation on the ERPs were found. However, patients with fibromyalgia exhibited slower RT to locate the single dot for incongruent trials as compared to congruent and neutral trials.

Conclusions
Data suggest the presence of an attentional bias in fibromyalgia that it would be followed by a deficit in the allocation of attentional resources to further process pain-related information. Altogether the current results suggest that attentional biases in fibromyalgia might be explained by automatic attentional mechanisms, which seem to be accompanied by an alteration of more strategic or controlled attentional components.

Open access, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028393221003948

 

Yet again no attempt to distinguish between correlation and cause and effect.

 

It’s just rude isn’t it?

 

Well this is complete trash. I don't know why complete trash is produced on medical issues but here we are, with this trash.

I'm not sure how so much judgemental speculation can make it through a process, but clearly the peer review process is completely performative in clinical psychology. May as well just build a machine that rubberstamps.

 

A painful grimace like a three-year-old about to tantrum. My neighbor uses this expression to express sympathy. A most annoying grimace and I hope that type of painful expression wasn't used in the study.

Why would a painful expression in an image evoke attention to pain itself in a FM patient? Or is the image to self-referential, thus polluting any meaningful relevance to the subject's pain itself. An instance of inducing negative self-esteem.

I doubt whether this study warrants my time, but I am angry enough to read the whole report, though, with my attention to pain problem, it could take weeks.

The authors should 'scan' former nurses with FM reading psych-neuro articles, such as this one, on FM pain et al, and see how their angry neurons affect their hypervigilance.

 

For info on what's involved in the "dot-probe" stuff :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-probe_paradigm

Edit : It's just occurred to me that if I was presented with a neutral face and a face of someone apparently in pain, I would ignore the neutral face and look more at the face with "more information". It's more interesting and potentially more informative than a neutral face.

 

Here's a research report about attentional bias regarding chronic headache in which they conclude: "It is concluded that both hypervigilance and sustained processing are critical factors for the maintenance of chronic pain." my bold

The 2010 research report: https://journals.lww.com/clinicalpa...Bias_Toward_Pictorial_Representations.11.aspx

Schoth, Daniel E. MSc; Liossi, Christina DPsych Attentional Bias Toward Pictorial Representations of Pain in Individuals With Chronic Headache, The Clinical Journal of Pain: March 2010 - Volume 26 - Issue 3 - p 244-250
doi: 10.1097/AJP.0b013e3181bed0f9

Give me a couple of weeks to read the first research report mentioned above and maybe I can dissect out the tripe