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BackgroundPrevious physiology-driven pain studies focused on examining the presence or intensity of physical pain. However, people experience various types of pain, including social pain, which induces negative mood; emotional distress; and neural activities associated with physical pain. In particular, comparison of autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses between social and physical pain in healthy adults has not been well demonstrated.MethodsWe explored the ANS responses induced by two types of pain—social pain, associated with a loss of social ties; and physical pain, caused by a pressure cuff—based on multimodal physiological signals. Seventy-three healthy individuals (46 women; mean age = 20.67 ± 3.27 years) participated. Behavioral responses were assessed to determine their sensitivity to pain stimuli. Electrocardiogram, electrodermal activity, photoplethysmogram, respiration, and finger temperature (FT) were measured, and 12 features were extracted from these signals.ResultsSocial pain induced increased heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) and decreased blood volume pulse (BVP), pulse transit time (PTT), respiration rate (RR), and FT, suggesting a heterogeneous pattern of sympathetic–parasympathetic coactivation. Moreover, physical pain induced increased heart rate variability (HRV) and SC, decreased BVP and PTT, and resulted in no change in FT, indicating sympathetic-adrenal-medullary activation and peripheral vasoconstriction.ConclusionThese results suggest that changes in HR, HRV indices, RR, and FT can serve as markers for differentiating physiological responses to social and physical pain stimuli.

Studies on differences in brain structure and function according to sex are reported to contribute to differences in behavior and cognition. However, few studies have investigated brain structures or used tractography to investigate gender differences in pain sensitivity. The identification of tracts involved in sex-based structural differences that show pain sensitivity has remained elusive to date. Here, we attempted to demonstrate the sex differences in pain sensitivity and to clarify its relationship with brain structural connectivity. In this study, pain behavior test and brain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were performed in male and female rats and tractography was performed on the whole brain using fiber tracking software. We selected eight brain regions related to pain and performed a tractography analysis of these regions. Fractional anisotropy (FA) measurements using automated tractography revealed sex differences in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)-, prefrontal cortex (PFC)-, and ventral posterior thalamus-related brain connections. In addition, the results of the correlation analysis of pain sensitivity and DTI tractography showed differences in mean, axial, and radial diffusivities, as well as FA. This study revealed the potential of DTI for exploring circuits involved in pain sensitivity. The behavioral and functional relevance’s of measures derived from DTI tractography is demonstrated by their relationship with pain sensitivity.

Abstract Background Although emotion-specific autonomic responses based on the discrete theory of emotion have been widely studied, studies on the reliability of physiological responses to emotional stimuli are limited. In this study, we aimed to assess the reliability of physiological changes induced by the six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise) that were measured during 10 weekly repeated experiments. Methods Twelve college students participated, and in each experiment, physiological signals were collected before and while participants were watching emotion-provoking film clips. Additionally, the participants self-evaluated the emotions that they experienced during the film presentation at the end of each emotional stimulus. To avoid adaptation of participants to identical stimuli during repeated measurements, we used 10 different film clips for each emotion, and thus a total of 60 film clips over 10 weeks were used. Physiological features, such as skin conductance level (SCL), fingertip temperature (FT), heart rate (HR), and blood volume pulse (BVP), were extracted from the physiological signals. Two reliability indices, Cronbach’s alpha and intraclass correlation coefficient, were calculated from the physiological features to assess internal consistency and interrater reliability, respectively. Results We found that SCL, HR, and BVP measured during the emotion-provoking phase over the 10 weekly sessions were more reliable than those assessed at baseline. Furthermore, SCL, HR, and BVP from the emotion-provoking phase exhibited excellent internal consistency and interrater reliability. Conclusions Our findings suggest that these features can be used as reliable physiological indices in emotion studies. The results also support the significance of physiological signals as meaningful indicators for emotion recognition in HCI (human computer interface) area.

Accumulating evidence suggests a relationship between problematic hypersexual behavior (PHB) and diminished executive control. Clinical studies have demonstrated that individuals with PHB exhibit high levels of impulsivity; however, relatively little is known regarding the neural mechanisms underlying impaired executive control in PHB. This study investigated the neural correlates of executive control in individuals with PHB and healthy controls using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twenty-three individuals with PHB and 22 healthy control participants underwent fMRI while performing a Stroop task. Response time and error rates were measured as surrogate indicators of executive control. Individuals with PHB exhibited impaired task performance and lower activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and inferior parietal cortex relative to healthy controls during the Stroop task. In addition, blood oxygen level-dependent responses in these areas were negatively associated with PHB severity. The right DLPFC and inferior parietal cortex are associated with higher-order cognitive control and visual attention, respectively. Our findings suggest that individuals with PHB have diminished executive control and impaired functionality in the right DLPFC and inferior parietal cortex, providing a neural basis for PHB.

Neuroimaging studies on the characteristics of individuals with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) have been accumulating due to growing concerns regarding the psychological and social problems associated with Internet use. However, relatively little is known about the brain characteristics underlying IGD, such as the associated functional connectivity and structure. The aim of this study was to investigate alterations in gray matter (GM) volume and functional connectivity during resting state in individuals with IGD using voxel-based morphometry and a resting-state connectivity analysis. The participants included 20 individuals with IGD and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Resting-state functional and structural images were acquired for all participants using 3 T magnetic resonance imaging. We also measured the severity of IGD and impulsivity using psychological scales. The results show that IGD severity was positively correlated with GM volume in the left caudate (p