{
  "abstract": "Background: Expectation is a powerful cognitive modulator of pain, but how different types of emotion regulation approaches interact with expectancy to influence pain processing remains unclear. The present study compared self-selected habitual strategies (cognitive reappraisal or deep breathing) with an assigned non-habitual imagery-based strategy. Methods: Twenty-four right-handed healthy participants (11 in the self-selected group, 13 in the assigned strategy group) completed a pain expectancy task under two conditions: Attend (passive observation without regulation) and Regulate (active application of the assigned or self-selected strategy). Electrical stimuli were delivered to the left or right forearm. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record prefrontal and sensorimotor cortical activation, and subjective pain ratings were collected using a 0–10 Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Behavioral ratings, cortical activation (β-values in four regions of interest, ROIs), and neural–behavioral correlations were examined. Results: In Attend trials, negative expectancy (high cue followed by medium pain, HM) enhanced pain compared with the no-bias condition (medium cue followed by medium pain, MM), while positive expectancy (low cue followed by medium pain, LM) reduced pain. In Regulate trials, the self-selected group showed a significant LM–MM difference under both left- and right-side stimulation, whereas the assigned strategy group showed a significant LM–MM difference only under left-side stimulation. At the neural level, the Stimulating Location × Group interaction in the left primary somatosensory cortex (L-S1) and right premotor cortex/supplementary motor area (R-PMC/SMA) showed moderate effect sizes (ηp2 = 0.177 and 0.165), but none survived false discovery rate (FDR) correction. In neural–behavioral correlation analyses, one significant correlation was observed in the Attend condition (R-PMC/SMA), along with one marginal trend (L-S1); no significant correlations were found in the Regulate condition after FDR correction. Conclusions: Self-selected habitual strategies and assigned non-habitual imagery-based strategies modulate pain expectancy through different behavioral patterns. Habitual self-selected approaches produced more consistent pain reduction under positive expectancy, whereas the assigned imagery-based approach showed weaker and less consistent regulatory effects. However, the neural findings were exploratory and did not survive FDR correction. The advantage of self-selected habitual approaches may lie in self-selection and automaticity rather than in activating specific brain regions. Because stimulation side was not counterbalanced, laterality inferences cannot be drawn.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Health Sciences and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China",
    "Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Qinyi Qiao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jiahao Du"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Fanfu Fang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ping Shi"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/42sge1pjevh8a.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/brainsci16101030",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13702616/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "42sge1pjevh8a",
  "issns": [
    "2076-3425"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13702616",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "RC321-571"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Pain Management and Placebo Effect"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214576537",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13702616/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13702616",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-01",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/42sge1pjevh8a.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:50Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13702616",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13702616"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T14:21:22Z",
      "native_id": "03ba9578c3c94c1d8342bf6c4ac6847d",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci16101030"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2805|Pain Management and Placebo Effect",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Self-Selected Versus Assigned Emotion Regulation in Pain Expectancy: Behavioral and fNIRS Evidence",
  "title_text": "Self-Selected Versus Assigned Emotion Regulation in Pain Expectancy: Behavioral and fNIRS Evidence",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T14:21:22Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/42sge1pjevh8a",
  "venue": "Brain sciences",
  "versions": []
}