Project

The effects of motor action on pain processing: An experimental analysis

Code
3G000518
Duration
01 January 2018 → 31 December 2021
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Social sciences
    • Health psychology
    • Cognitive processes
    • Motivation and emotion
    • Motor processes and action
    • Sensory processes and perception
Keywords
pain suppression movement attention motivation
 
Project description

In this project we aim to answer the intriguing but unexplored question how simple daily life motor actions influence pain processing in the moving body part. Guided by a novel integrative theoretical and methodological framework, combining behavioural, cortical and physiological indicators, we will conduct an experimental research program, examining the following research questions :(1) When, how, and to what extent does motor action attenuates pain in the moving body part (i.e., sensory suppression)? (2) How do learnt consequences of specific motor actions (pain, reward) modulate somatosensory attention in the moving body part? (3) How do individual differences (pain appraisal, inhibitory capacity, presence of chronic pain) affect pain processing during motor action? We expect that this project will increase our understanding of how the brain deals with two conflicting demands typically encountered in both daily life and clinical situations, namely protecting the organism against bodily threat by prioritizing pain processing, versus shielding goal-directed actions from distracting sensory input by suppressing pain.