Perturbing the activity of the superior temporal gyrus during pain encoding prevents the exaggeration of pain memories: a virtual lesion study using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation

Publication date: Available online 27 January 2020

Source: Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Author(s): Francis Houde, Marylie Martel, Alexia Coulombe-Lévêque, Marie-Philippe Harvey, Vincent Auclair, David Mathieu, Kevin Whittingstall, Philippe Goffaux, Guillaume Léonard

Abstract

Background

Past studies have shown that pain memories are often inaccurate, a phenomenon known as mnemonic pain bias. Pain memories are thought to play an important role on how future pain is felt. Recent evidence from our laboratory suggests that individuals who exaggerate past pain display increased superior temporal gyrus (STG) and parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) activity during the encoding of experimental painful stimulations, suggesting that these brain structures play an important role in pain memories.

Objective

/hypothesis

To determine whether a virtual lesion paradigm, targeting the STG during pain encoding, can affect long-lasting pain memories. We hypothesized that interfering with the activity of the STG (and possibly of the PHG via distant/ remote effects) would attenuate mnemonic bias.

Methods

Randomized double-blind study with two parallel groups. Participants received either sham (n = 21) or real (n = 21) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS - virtual lesion paradigm) over the STG during pain encoding (milliseconds after the administration of a painful stimuli). Pain intensity and unpleasantness were evaluated using a visual analog scale (VAS; 0 to 10) immediately after the painful event, and at recall, 2 months later. The mnemonic pain bias (calculated by subtracting the pain scores obtained at recall from the pain score obtained during encoding) was compared between the two groups for both pain intensity and unpleasantness.

Results

Participants in both groups did not differ in terms of age and gender (real TMS = 27 years ± 9, 43% female; sham TMS = 25 years ± 4, 49% female; p > 0.64). The mnemonic bias related to pain intensity was similar in both groups (p = 0.83). However, the mnemonic bias related to pain unpleasantness was lower in the real TMS group (p = 0.04).

Conclusions

Our results provide the first evidence that the STG and/or the PHG, and possibly the PHG, are causally involved in the formation of biased memories of pain unpleasantness.

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