Slow-5 dynamic functional connectivity reflects the capacity to sustain cognitive performance during pain

J C Cheng; R L Bosma; K S Hemington; A Kucyi; M A Lindquist; K D Davis

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.005

Slow-5 dynamic functional connectivity reflects the capacity to sustain cognitive performance during pain

Neuroimage. 2017 Aug 15:157:61-68. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.005. Epub 2017 Jun 3.

Authors

J C Cheng¹, R L Bosma², K S Hemington¹, A Kucyi³, M A Lindquist⁴, K D Davis⁵

Affiliations

¹ Division of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour - Systems Neuroscience, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, Room MP12-306, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5S 2J7.
² Division of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour - Systems Neuroscience, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, Room MP12-306, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8.
³ Division of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour - Systems Neuroscience, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, Room MP12-306, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5S 2J7; Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University 94305, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
⁵ Division of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour - Systems Neuroscience, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, Room MP12-306, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5S 2J7; Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5T1P5. Electronic address: kdavis@uhnres.utoronto.ca.

PMID: 28583880
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.005

Abstract

Some individuals are more distracted by pain during a cognitive task than others, representing poor pain coping. We have characterized individuals as A-type (attention dominates) or P-type (pain dominates) based on how pain interferes with task speed. The ability to optimize behavior during pain may relate to the flexibility in communication at rest between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of the executive control network, and the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) of the salience network (SN) - regions involved in cognitive-interference. The aMCC and aIns (SN hub) also signify pain salience; flexible communication at rest between them possibly allowing prioritizing task performance during pain. We tested the hypotheses that pain-induced changes in task performance are related to resting-state dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) between these region pairs (DLPFC-aMCC; aMCC-aIns). We found that 1) pain reduces task consistency/speed in P-type individuals, but enhances performance in A-type individuals, 2) task consistency is related to the FC dynamics within DLPFC-aMCC and aMCC-aIns pairs, 3) brain-behavior relationships are driven by dFC within the slow-5 (0.01-0.027Hz) frequency band, and 4) dFC across the brain decreases at higher frequencies. Our findings point to neural communication dynamics at rest as being associated with prioritizing task performance over pain.

Keywords: Attention; Frequency; Pain-interference; Resting-state fMRI; Salience.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Attention / physiology*
Brain Waves / physiology*
Connectome / methods*
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Pain Perception / physiology*
Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
Young Adult

Grants and funding

CIHR/Canada