Abstract #3781

fMRI Mapping of Cognitive Brain Networks Involved in Perceptual Bias

Manyoel Lim¹, Christopher O'Grady^1,2,3, Mary Lynch^4,5, Steven Beyea^3,6,7,8, and Javeria Ali Hashmi^1,7,9

¹Brain Networks & Neurophysiology Lab, Halifax, NS, Canada, ²Department of Research, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, NS, Canada, ³Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada, ⁴Department of Anesthesia, pain management, and perioperative medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, ⁵Pain Management Unit, QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada, ⁶School of Biomedical Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, ⁷Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, ⁸Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, ⁹Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

Prior expectations are critical in the formation of perceptions around phenomona such as pain. This study uses functional MRI to elucidate regions associated with both top-down and bottom-up aspects of pain perception, finding a network of higher-cortical regions for the former and primarily sensory regions for the latter. Additionally, bias towards cues rather than actual pain stimuli was both hypothesized and observed. The findings therefore shed light on the physiological basis of neural activation behind the complex and highly-biased formation of pain perceptions.

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