Distinct EEG microstate signatures across different pain types
- 1Université Laval
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{rabiei2026distinct,
title = {{Distinct EEG microstate signatures across different pain types}},
author = {P. Rabiei and a. champagne and L.-E. Barrette and N. Fakhry and H. Masse-Alarie and M.-P. Coll},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.28.755184},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755184v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Distinct EEG microstate signatures across different pain types
AU - P. Rabiei
AU - a. champagne
AU - L.-E. Barrette
AU - N. Fakhry
AU - H. Masse-Alarie
AU - M.-P. Coll
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.28.755184
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755184v1
AB - 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.
ER -