THE NATURE OF HYPNOTIC ANALGESIA: NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE AND FOUNDATIONS
Abstract
This paper reviews neurophysiological research (EEG, event-related potential, cerebral blood flow, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and neurochemical) that supports the proposal that hypnotic analgesia is an active inhibitory process involving several brain systems mediating attentional and nociceptive processes. Even though the processes of hypnotic analgesia may be dissociated from conscious awareness and appear to be beyond volitional control, it is proposed that hypnotic analgesia depends on the activation of a supervisory, attention control system -involving the anterior frontal cortex- which then participates with other cortical and subcortical systems in the allocation of thalamocortical activities. Hypnotic analgesia affects the active allocation of attention and disattention associated with the anterior frontal region, as well as spatio-temporal aspects pain perception associated with the posterior cortical systems.Downloads
The works published in this journal are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publications Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) retains the property rights (copyright) of published works, and encourages and enables the reuse of the same under the license specified in paragraph 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2022
2. The works are published in the online edition of the journal under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-CompartirIgual 4.0 (legal text). You can copy, use, distribute, transmit and publicly display, provided that: i) you cite the author and the original source of publication (journal, editorial and URL of the work), ii) are not used for commercial purposes, iii ) mentions the existence and specifications of this license.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
3. Conditions of self-archiving. Is allowed and encouraged the authors to disseminate electronically pre-print versions (version before being evaluated and sent to the journal) and / or post-print (version reviewed and accepted for publication) of their works before publication, as it encourages its earliest circulation and diffusion and thus a possible increase in its citation and scope between the academic community. RoMEO Color: Green.
