Anticipating meaningful actions in the environment is an essential function of the brain. Such predictive mechanisms originate from the motor system and allow for inferring actions from environmental affordances, and the potential to act within a specific environment. Using architecture, we provide a unique perspective on the ongoing debate in cognitive neuroscience and philosophy on whether cognition depends on movement or is decoupled from our physical structure. To investigate cognitive processes associated with architectural affordances, we used a mobile brain/body imaging approach recording brain activity synchronized to head-mounted displays. Participants perceived and acted on virtual transitions ranging from nonpassable to easily passable. We found that early sensory brain activity, on revealing the environment and before actual movement, differed as a function of affordances. In addition, movement through transitions was preceded by a motor-related negative component that also depended on affordances. Our results suggest that potential actions afforded by an environment influence perception.

The present narrative review addresses issues concerning the defining criteria and conceptual underpinnings of pain catastrophizing. To date, the concept of pain catastrophizing has been extensively used in many clinical and experimental contexts and it is considered as one of the most important psychological correlate of pain chronicity and disability. Although its extensive use, we are still facing important problems related to its defining criteria and conceptual understanding. At present, there is no general theoretical agreement of what catastrophizing really is. The lack of a consensus on its definition and conceptual issues has important consequences on the choice of the pain management approaches, defining and identifying problems, and promoting novel research. Clinical and research work in absence of a common theoretical ground is often trivial. It is very surprising that clinical and experimental work has grown extensively in the past years, without a common ground in the form of a clear definition of pain catastrophizing and overview of its conceptual basis. Improving the efficacy and efficiency of pan catastrophizing related treatments requires an understanding of the theoretical construct. So far, most interventions have only demonstrated modest effects in reducing pain catastrophizing. Therefore, clarifying the construct may be an important precursor for developing more targeted and effective interventions, thereby easing some of the burden related to this aspect of pain. In our review, we have extracted and de-constructed common elements that emerge from different theoretical models with the aim to understand the concept of catastrophizing, which components can be modulated by psychological interventions, and the general role in pain processing. The analysis of the literature has indicated essential key elements to explain pain catastrophizing: emotional regulation, catastrophic worry (as repetitive negative thinking), rumination, behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation (BIS/BAS) systems, and interoceptive sensitivity. The present paper attempts to integrate these key elements with the aim to re-compose and unify the concept within a modern biopsychosocial interpretation of catastrophizing.

Cognitive impairment (CI) can develop during the course of ageing and is a feature of many neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Many individuals with CI have substantial, sustained, and complex health care needs, which frequently include pain. However, individuals with CI can have difficulty communicating the features of their pain to others, which in turn presents a significant challenge for effective diagnosis and treatment of their pain. Herein, we review the literature on responsivity of individuals with CI to experimental pain stimuli. We discuss pain responding across a large number of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders in which CI is typically present. Overall, the existing data suggest that pain processing is altered in most individuals with CI compared with cognitively intact matched controls. The precise nature of these alterations varies with the type of CI (or associated clinical condition) and may also depend on the type of pain stimulation used and the type of pain responses assessed. Nevertheless, it is clear that regardless of the etiology of CI, patients do feel noxious stimuli, with more evidence for hypersensitivity than hyposensitivity to these stimuli compared with cognitively unimpaired individuals. Our current understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning these alterations is limited but may be enhanced through the use of animal models of CI, which also exhibit alterations in nociceptive responding. Further research using additional behavioural indices of pain is warranted. Increased understanding of altered experimental pain processing in CI will facilitate the development of improved diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for pain in individuals with CI.

This is a reliable method to investigate the membrane properties of small cutaneous nerve fibers in humans and may be used in clinical settings as a diagnostic or profiling tool. Muscle Nerve 55: 195-201, 2017.

A mismatch in pain sensitivity, tolerance, and pain self-reports was observed. Findings suggest that pain experiences in the elderly differ from the experiences in the young on multiple dimensions: sensory, affective, and cognitive. Findings may also indicate that the elderly appraise pain experiences using different psychological strategies.

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Background Over the last decades, a considerable number of observational scales have been developed to assess pain in persons with dementia. The time seems ripe now to build on the knowledge and expertize implemented in these scales to form an improved, “best‐of” meta‐tool. The EU‐COST initiative “Pain in impaired cognition, especially dementia” aimed to do this by selecting items out of existing observational scales and critically re‐assessing their suitability to detect pain in dementia. This paper reports on the final phase of this collaborative task. Methods Items from existing observational pain scales were tested for “frequency of occurrence (item difficulty),” “reliability” and “validity.” This psychometric testing was carried out in eight countries, in different healthcare settings, and included clinical as well as experimental pain conditions. Results Across all studies, 587 persons with dementia, 27 individuals with intellectual disability, 12 Huntington's disease patients and 59 cognitively healthy controls were observed during rest and movement situations or while receiving experimental pressure pain, respectively. The psychometric outcomes for each item across the different studies were evaluated within an international and multidisciplinary team of experts and led a final selection of 15 items (5x facial expressions, 5x body movements, 5x vocalizations). Conclusions The final list of 15 observational items have demonstrated psychometric quality and clinical usefulness both in their former scales and in the present international evaluation; accordingly, they qualified twice to form a new internationally agreed‐on meta‐tool for Pain Assessment in Impaired Cognition, the PAIC‐15 scale. Significance Using a meta‐tool approach by building on previous observational pain assessment scales and putting the items of these scales through rigorous empirical testing (using experimental as well as clinical pain studies in several European countries), we were able to identify the best items for pain assessment in individuals with impaired cognition. These selected items form the novel PAIC15 scale (pain assessment in impaired cognition, 15 items).

Abstract-Few studies are available in the literature on the sensations artificially created by dual-channel electrocutaneous stimulation. This study assessed the effect of a set of selected stimulation parameters on the sensations evoked by single-or dual-channel electrocutaneous stimulation. The investigated parameters included the stimulation site, the number of pulses, the number of stimulating channels (single-vs dual-channel), and the interleaved time between two channels. The modality, quality, location, and magnitude of the sensations were evaluated when the stimulations were applied on the forearm skin in 16 nondisabled subjects. Tactile perception was found to be induced more easily on the median and ulnar aspect than the dorsal and radial aspect of the forearm. Stimulation site significantly affected the magnitude of the sensation (p < 0.01). Dualchannel stimulation significantly increased the sensation magnitude (p < 0.05) only when the two electrodes were positioned closely. Moreover, a higher number of pulses evoked a movement perception more frequently and the interleaved time showed no significant effect on the magnitude of the sensation. The findings are expected to be useful for sensory substitution and augmentation applications. The results may also help improve users' acceptance of hand prostheses.