{
  "abstract": "Background and Purpose: Task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has identified distributed patterns of brain activity associated with the experience of pain, including a collection of regions involved in nociceptive processing traditionally referred to as the pain matrix (PM). However, pain perception is not determined by bottom-up nociceptive input alone, but can also be influenced by top-down cognitive regulation. In the current study, we analyzed an open-source fMRI dataset in which participants cognitively up- or down-regulated their perceived pain to identify and separate the spatiotemporal patterns of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity associated with bottom-up nociception and top-down regulation of pain perception. Methods: fMRI data from 33 healthy participants performing a thermal pain perception task were analyzed. Participants experienced varying levels of thermal pain and rated perceived intensity, and were also instructed to either increase (Regulate-up) or decrease (Regulate-down) their perceived pain. Spatiotemporal BOLD patterns were retrieved by applying multivariate multiple regression with a finite impulse response model of the task timing, followed by dimension reduction. Results: The PM was retrieved and showed greater activation in response to high relative to low heat. In addition, four other spatiotemporal patterns were retrieved, with one, Re-evaluation (RE-EV), showing high activation during down-regulation of intense pain. Discussion and Conclusions: The PM was retrieved and showed an increased response with pain intensity. RE-EV was active during the down-regulation of intense pain, and activation in this same spatiotemporal pattern has previously been observed during down-regulation of negative emotions. Three other cognitive modes were retrieved, and their spatiotemporal patterns are discussed. A more complete understanding of the full set of fMRI-derived spatiotemporal patterns involved in pain perception has an important role to play in clinical aspects of negative emotional and physical pain/affect regulation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Solana Redway"
    },
    {
      "name": "John Shahki"
    },
    {
      "name": "Erica Zeng"
    },
    {
      "name": "Amber Lu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Matteo Damascelli"
    },
    {
      "name": "Chantal M. Percival"
    },
    {
      "name": "Todd Stephen Woodward"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eawybskf903hm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31234/osf.io/pa36f_v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "eawybskf903hm",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/pa36f_v1/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2737|Pain Mechanisms and Treatments"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212313833",
  "pdf_url": "https://osf.io/pa36f/download",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-08",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eawybskf903hm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:30Z",
      "native_id": "pa36f",
      "source": "osf",
      "url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/pa36f_v1/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "bepress:Neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Spatiotemporal Brain Patterns Elicited during Pain Perception in fMRI",
  "title_text": "Spatiotemporal Brain Patterns Elicited during Pain Perception in fMRI",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:30Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eawybskf903hm",
  "venue": "PsyArXiv",
  "versions": []
}