Modality-specific effects of aversive expectancy in the anterior insula and medial prefrontal cortex

We presented participants with visual cues predicting either a painful heat or disgusting odor, and assessed how they affected the subsequent subjective experience of stimuli from the same (within-modality) or opposite (cross-modal) modality. We found a reliable influence of expectancy on the subjective experience of stimuli whose modality matched that of the previous cue. At the brain level, this effect was mediated by the intermediate dysgranular section of the insula, whereas it was suppressed by more anterior agranular portions of the same region. Instead, no expectancy modulation was observed when the modality of the cue differed from that of the subsequent stimulus. Our data suggest that the insular cortex encodes prospective aversive events in terms of their modality-specific features, and whether they match with subsequent stimulations.
Source: Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research