Abstract
Crossing the hands over the body midline reduces the perceived intensity of nociceptive
stimuli applied to the hands by impairing the ability to localize somatosensory stimuli.
The neural basis of this “crossed-hands analgesia” has not been investigated previously,
although it has been proposed that the effect may be modulated by multimodal areas.
We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to test the hypothesis that crossed-hands
analgesia is mediated by higher-order multimodal areas rather than by specific somatosensory
ones. Participants lay in the scanner while mechanical painful stimuli were applied
to their hands held in either a crossed or uncrossed position. They reported significantly
lower perceived intensity of pain when their hands were crossed. Although activations
elicited by stimuli applied to the crossed hands revealed significantly greater blood
oxygen level–dependent responses in the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, and
the medial frontal gyrus, the blood oxygen level–dependent responses in the superior
parietal lobe were greater with the hands uncrossed. Our results provide evidence
that crossed-hands analgesia is mediated by higher-order frontoparietal multimodal
areas involved in sustaining and updating body and spatial representations.
Perspective
We found crossed-hands analgesia to be mediated by multimodal areas, such as the posterior
parietal, cingulate, and insular cortices, implicated in space and body representation.
Our findings highlight how the perceived intensity of painful stimuli is shaped by
how we represent our body and the space surrounding it.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 29, 2013
Accepted:
March 21,
2013
Received in revised form:
January 25,
2013
Received:
September 21,
2012
Footnotes
This research was funded by the “Fondazione Molo.”
The authors report no conflict of interest.
Supplementary data accompanying this article are available online at www.jpain.org and www.sciencedirect.com.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
