Pain: Every brain interprets it differently

In a recent study, researchers at the University of Essex found, for the first time, that everyone’s brain has a “pain signature,” which changes from person to person. To reach this conclusion, they studied brain data from 70 adults. “The first set of information contained two repeated sessions of tactile and pain stimulation for 22 participants. The second set contained one session of painful stimulation for 48 participants,” The scientists said in the work published in the journal Journal of Neurophysiology.

Brain and pain: some participants had no waves

Overall, the team found that the participants’ oscillating gamma-speed brain waves were “remarkably stable” and created individual patterns when stimulated. According to the results, some of the volunteers reported feeling pain and no gamma response, while others had a significant response. Thus, there are large differences in the time, frequency, and location of the gamma oscillations.

“Not only, for the first time, can we highlight the extreme variability of gamma response from person to person, but we also show that the individual response pattern is stable over time. This pattern of group variance and individual stability may apply to other brain responses and profiling it may allow us to identify the hallmarks of pain. individuality in brain activity.” Ilya Valentini, the author of the work, said V.I statement.

Changing the way brain waves are measured to discover their ‘true role’

Faced with these findings, the researchers believe it is necessary to “go back to square one,” since previous research data on the association of pain and brain waves with gamma oscillations. “Do not represent all people.” “We don’t want gamma oscillations to not play a role in pain perception, but we certainly won’t discover their true role if we continue to identify them as we have done so far,” added Ilia Valentini, who hopes this study will change the way oscillating gamma-ray brainwaves are measured in other sensory domains.