{
  "abstract": "Pain is associated with dynamic brain reorganization. Electroencephalographic microstates can characterize transient large-scale brain states, yet findings across pain studies are inconsistent. Two features may contribute: conditions have been studied in isolation, and analytical pipelines vary widely. We applied a harmonized analysis pipeline across three pain conditions: capsaicininduced pain, assessed within participants against a pain-free baseline, and non-chronic and chronic back pain, each compared with matched controls. Using a five-minute resting-state electroencephalographic recordings we examined microstate topography, temporal expression and transition probabilities, and directly compared pain related differences across pain states. We identified five microstates (A-E), corresponding to auditory, visual, salience, and attentional networks. Capsaicin pain showed increased expression of microstate C and reduced expression of microstates A, D and E. Transitions were redistributed towards microstate C, indicating a shift toward salience-related processing at the expense of sensory and attentional dynamics. In clinical back pain, effects were smaller and diverged by pain type: non-chronic back pain showed lower microstate C occurrence, opposite in direction to the capsaicin effect, whereas chronic back pain showed lower microstate D global explained variance, suggesting salience and attentional differences in clinical pain. Direct comparisons showed weaker pain-related increases in microstate C expression in both clinical back pain groups than capsaicin pain, with additional differences involving microstates A, D and E. These findings argue against a unitary EEG microstate signature of pain and instead reveal pain-type-specific patterns of large-scale brain dynamics, with microstate C providing the clearest distinction between experimental and clinical pain.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Université Laval"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "P. Rabiei"
    },
    {
      "name": "a. champagne"
    },
    {
      "name": "L.-E. Barrette"
    },
    {
      "name": "N. Fakhry"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Masse-Alarie"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "M.-P. Coll"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5fm8xyayvac57.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.28.755184",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755184v1.full",
  "id": "5fm8xyayvac57",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755184v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Functional Brain Connectivity Studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220967759",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755184v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-28",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5fm8xyayvac57.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:26:05Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.28.755184",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755184v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Distinct EEG microstate signatures across different pain types",
  "title_text": "Distinct EEG microstate signatures across different pain types",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:26:05Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5fm8xyayvac57",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}