Attention Modulation Lab Report

Imaging how attention modulates pain in humans using functional MRI, by Susanna J. Bantick, Richard G. Wise, Alexander Ploghaus, Stuart Clare, Stephen M. Smith, and Irene Tracey exhibited a substantial quality of media coverage. In this essay, I will discuss the clinical experiment of attention modulating pain in humans. The topics addressed in this report contained clear arguments and support to substantiate them. In 1968, "It is found that patients report more intense post surgical pain when they require attendance to the pain." Furthermore, methods such as listening to music can significantly reduce pain. From here on, this investigation used a revised version of the Stroop task, specifically, a demonstration of interference in the reaction time of a task. The counting Stroop task, likewise, was a factor in this experiment, agreeably a cognitive interference task. Eight volunteers agreed to test attention modulation pain in humans. A 3 T human MRI scanner conducted the scan of subjects. Functional imaging data covering the
entire brain volume, became analyzed, considering the scan.
Visual stimuli developed using in-house software to gather recorded responses.
Noxious thermal stimuli played a major role in this investigation, attributing strong pain into the subjects left hand. Next, the subjects recorded the number of words presented on a screen while experiencing pain at the same time. Nevertheless, researchers believe the less a person focuses on their condition it declines the rate of pain you'll endure. The next method used was Imaging data. fMRI images, for the most part, identified the regions showing significant changes in bold signals. 2 variables modeled each subject's fMRI time course data. In the images, if an area displayed significant positive interactions among the volunteers, formerly that variable was overall active. Contrary to the positive interactions, the negative ones marked a reduction in activity during the simultaneous presentation of stimuli. This data conveyed a voxel-by-voxel
basis. Current researchers suggest that unless the subjects attention is elsewhere, painful stimuli will take precedence over competing for non-painful ones. This article interpreted their findings exceptionally. "Allowing yourself to be distracted is like stopping the pain…", this quote is from an article: "Easily distracted: why is it so hard to focus, and what to do about it", by David Rock. It has similar findings to "Imaging how attention modulates pain in humans using functional MRI." The reporters of this specific article moreover mention's a complex psychological capacity. "These findings confirm the validity of our modeling and its capacity to dissociate pain and Stroop activation's within the brain." According to theory, distracting attention from a painful stimulus reduces pain perception.