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. 2023 Sep 19;18(1):nsad042.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nsad042.

The effect of induced optimism on early pain processing: indication by contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) and the sympathetic skin response (SSR)

Johanna Basten-Günther  1 , Laura Jutz  1 , Madelon L Peters  2 , Janosch A Priebe  1   3 , Stefan Lautenbacher  1
Affiliations

The effect of induced optimism on early pain processing: indication by contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) and the sympathetic skin response (SSR)

Johanna Basten-Günther et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. .

Abstract

Situationally induced optimism has been shown to influence several components of experimental pain. The aim of the present study was to enlarge these findings for the first time to the earliest components of the pain response by measuring contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) and the sympathetic skin response (SSR). Forty-seven healthy participants underwent two blocks of phasic thermal stimulation. CHEPs, the SSR and self-report pain ratings were recorded. Between the blocks of stimulation, the 'Best Possible Self' imagery and writing task was performed to induce situational optimism. The optimism manipulation was successful in increasing state optimism. It did, however, neither affect pain-evoked potentials nor the SSR nor self-report pain ratings. These results suggest that optimism does not alter early responses to pain. The higher-level cognitive processes involved in optimistic thinking might only act on later stages of pain processing. Therefore, more research is needed targeting different time frames of stimulus processing and response measures for early and late pain processing in parallel.

Keywords: EEG; optimism; pain; pain-evoked potentials; resilience.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared that they had no conflict of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
General protocol of the experiment.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Mean of state optimism (FEX_pos and FEX_neg) at baseline (pre) and after the experimental manipulation (post). A significant time × group interaction effect was found for both FEX subscales. Error bars = +1s.d. (TD)/−1s.d. (BPS). BPS, optimism group; TD, control group.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Mean of PANAS state positive/negative affect (PA and NA) at baseline (pre) and after the experimental manipulation (post). Error bars = +1s.d. (BPS)/−1s.d. (TD). BPS, optimism group; TD, control group.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Mean amplitude of the CHEPs depending on stimulus intensity, experimental condition and time of measurement. (A) N2 component, (B) P2 component and (C) N2P2 complex. Error bars = +1s.d. (N2)/−1s.d. (P2, N2P2). BPS, optimism group; TD, control group.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
CHEPs pre and post the induction of optimism (BPS) and in a control condition (TD) evoked by noxious heat (51°C/45°C). As can been seen, there were no differences between pre and post and between conditions (BPS/TD). The number of valid subjects was 39.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
Mean amplitude of the N1P1 complex (SSR) depending on stimulus intensity, experimental condition and time of measurement. Error bars = −1s.d. BPS, optimism group; TD, control group.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.
Mean ratings of pain intensity depending on stimulus intensity, experimental condition and time of measurement. Error bars = −1s.d. BPS, optimism group; TD, control group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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