Descripción del proyecto
Modulación del dolor mediante condicionamiento
Para los pacientes que hacen frente al dolor crónico, el tratamiento farmacológico todavía es insuficiente en lo que respecta a facilitar un alivio eficaz y duradero. Esto da lugar a la necesidad de remedios que tengan en cuenta el factor psicológico. Sin embargo, se requiere un estudio mucho mayor de la base neuronal del proceso y de cómo cambia la actividad encefálica para reconocer la información relevante e irrelevante durante el condicionamiento. El proyecto NeuroCon, financiado con fondos europeos, se propone comprender la relación entre el condicionamiento clásico y la expectativa en la analgesia por placebo. Además, examinará la aplicación de formas clásicas de condicionamiento en el contexto del miedo básico. Los responsables del proyecto esperan determinar cómo se modifican las cortezas sensoriales para detectar mejor la información relevante.
Objetivo
Chronic pain patients cannot be efficiently treated with pharmacological methods and hence investigating alternatives such as psychological-based treatments is essential. One of the well-recognised method of analgesia is placebo which is based on learning processes – classical conditioning (CC). Through CC, expectations about pain relief are formed and those are recognised to mediate the placebo effect. Moreover, the effects of CC play a prominent role in the development of chronic pain-related fear and disability, so investigating the basis of fear conditioning may help developing better pain management strategies.
Expectations about pain relief are shown to reduce the activation of pain-related brain regions and cues associated with pain decrease are processed in higher-order areas of the brain. However, the latest studies are inconclusive in determining to what extent expectations are elicited consciously or unconsciously and it is suggested that it depends the way the effect is generated - simple conditioning or conditioning with verbally induced expectations. In order to bring new light on this subject, the neural basis of the process and how the brain activity changes in order to recognise relevant and irrelevant information during conditioning still needs further investigation.
In order to understand the relation between CC and expectancy in placebo analgesia, this project will implement both types of CC in the context of basic fear conditioning procedure. The brain activity will be measured using MEG and EEG technique and investigated using multiple methods of signal analysis which is a novelty in placebo research. The aim of the project is investigating how sensory cortices are modified to better detect relevant information using MEG and studying anticipatory brain activity using EEG. It may provide an answer to what extent conscious and unconscious processes are involved in pain modulation and what regions of are involved in this process.
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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
28040 Madrid
España