Cognitive modulation of neural responses during self- and externally administered thermal allodynia and hyperalgesia

Cognitive strategies help to modulate neural responses in the human brain to ameliorate pain, e.g., by predicting the sensory consequences of impending acute painful stimuli. It is unknown whether these strategies are applicable or distintly different in the clinically more relevant chronic pain models. We compared pain-evoked neural responses between self- and externally applied thermal allodynia and hyperalgesia in the experimental capsaicin model for chronic pain. In contrast to external stimulation, self-administered pain is characterized by a better predictability and controllability of the impending stimul…