Viewing Pictures of a Romantic Partner Reduces Experimental Pain: Involvement of Neural Reward Systems
Figure 1
Neural responses associated with viewing pictures of a beloved during periods of acute experimental thermal pain.
Significant clusters are shown on an MNI-normalized average of all participants' high-resolution structural scans. Neurological (right on right) convention is used. (a) Sagittal view (x = −8) of conjunction analyses showing areas of BOLD increase (yellow) and decrease (blue) associated with viewing pictures of a romantic partner, over and above both viewing pictures of an attractive and familiar acquaintance, and a word-association distraction task. Activations (anterior to posterior) include the medial orbitofrontal cortex, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, and precuneus. Deactivations are seen in the supplementary motor area and ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus. (b) Axial view (z = −3) of neural activation associated with pain relief during viewing of romantic partner pictures. Greater pain relief was associated with greater activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral caudate head, and right superior temporal gyrus. (c) Coronal view (y = 34) of neural activity increase (yellow) and decrease (blue) associated with pain relief during viewing the romantic partner pictures. Pain relief is associated with greater BOLD activity in the bilateral lateral orbitofrontal cortices, and decreased BOLD activity in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and right supplementary motor area. (d) Axial view (z = −16) of neural activity increase (yellow) and decrease (blue) associated with pain relief during viewing the romantic partner pictures. Pain relief is associated with greater BOLD activity in the bilateral lateral orbitofrontal cortices, and decreased activity in the right brainstem, approximately in the location of the substantia nigra. Also shown (in green) is an overlapping area of the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex that was also positively associated with analgesia in the distraction condition.
