The Mechanism On The Psychological And Neurological Of Inhibition Function To Relieve Pain

Pain,An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with,or resembling that associated with,actual or potential tissue damage.The bottleneck of pain relief medication has driven the development of the biopsychosocial pain model.Some studies have begun to explore the use of psychological factors to alleviate pain and have found that executive function plays a important role in the pain recovery process.Inhibitory function,as a core sub-function of executive function,represents the ability to inhibit conflict reactions and dominant reactions.Pain and human survival constitute conflicting information,and inhibiting pain has priority over other reactions.Therefore,the down-regulation of pain cannot be separated from inhibitory function.In addition,the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(DLPFC)in the pain down-regulation system regulates other cortices or subcortical structures that project to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord,thereby inhibiting the ascending transmission of pain signals.At the same time,the DLPFC is also a key area for the development of inhibitory function,and the overlap of pain and inhibitory function in the DLPFC provides physiological evidence for their interaction.However,it is still unclear how inhibitory function relieves pain.Previous studies on cold pain have found that individuals with higher inhibitory function have lower pain perception,but the results are inconsistent,possibly because the pain termination process in the cold pain task involves more self-control of pain.Inhibitory function may not directly participate in pain perception but is involved in the overall down-regulation of pain.Other studies have found that individuals with higher inhibitory function have lower pain interference,showing consistency across studies,but lack direct physiological evidence to support this.This study aimed to investigate the relationship between inhibitory function,pain perception,pain interference,and related prefrontal cortex(PFC)activity by fixing the cold pain time and using functional near-infrared spectroscopy(f NIRS)brain imaging technology to observe PFC activity.Study 1 induced pain by immersing the hand in cold water at 7°C for 60 seconds.The study measured inhibitory function using a color-word matching Stroop task with an event design,assessed subjective pain intensity using a numerical analogue scale(NRS),and recorded the amount of change in PFC oxyhaemoglobin concentration during pain and pain relief(within 120 seconds of the end of pain).The results showed that inhibitory function was not associated with subjective pain intensity during pain and pain relief.However,the study found that inhibitory function was significantly negatively correlated(ps<0.05)with activation of the left DLPFC(r=-0.37)and left ventral lateral prefrontal(VLPFC,r=-0.38)during pain relief.Study 2 focused further on pain relief through the use of distraction to relieve pain by immersing the hand in cold water at 12°C for 60 seconds to induce pain.The study measured inhibitory function using a color-word matching Stroop task with a block design and used a tone monitoring task(TDT)as a distraction task.Additionally,the study assessed subjective pain intensity,unpleasantness,and pain attention using the NRS.The results showed that inhibitory function was not associated with subjective pain intensity during pain and pain distraction.However,inhibitory function response time was significantly(ps<0.05)associated with activation of unpleasant(r=0.38),pain attention(r=0.42),and right pre-subjective motor area(pre-SMA,r=-0.42)during pain distraction.Furthermore,inhibitory function correctness was associated with unpleasant(r=-0.42)during pain pleasure(r=-0.37),pain attention during pain distraction(r=-0.38),and during distraction task response(r=0.39),all significantly correlated(ps<0.05).The above results suggest that inhibitory function is involved in the top-down control of pain in individuals.Moreover,the physiological overlap between inhibitory function and the downstream regulatory system of pain provides direct physiological evidence for the interaction between the two.At the behavioral level,individuals with high inhibitory function are subject to lower pain interference.This process may be modulated by the emotional context.The increasing reduction in pain interference improves the overall experience of pain by altering pain anticipation.This mechanism provides theoretical support and practical guidance for the use of inhibitory functioning to relieve pain.Thus,changes in mood and pain attention should be the first concern when increasing inhibitory functioning to relieve pain.Future research should use controlled inhibition(e.g.,inhibition training)to further clarify the causal mechanisms and clinical application of inhibition for pain relief.