Thermosensory predictive coding underpins an illusion of pain

The human brain has a remarkable ability to learn and update its beliefs about the world. Here, we investigate how thermosensory learning shapes our subjective experience of temperature and the misperception of pain in response to harmless thermal stimuli. Through computational modeling, we demonstrate that the brain uses a probabilistic predictive coding scheme to update beliefs about temperature changes based on their uncertainty. We find that these expectations directly modulate the perception of pain in the thermal grill illusion. Quantitative microstructural brain imaging further revealed that individual variability in computational parameters related to uncertainty-driven learning and decision-making is reflected in the microstructure of brain regions such as the precuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus, cerebellum, as well as basal ganglia and brainstem. These findings provide a framework to understand how the brain infers pain from innocuous thermal inputs, with important implications for the etiology of thermosensory symptoms under chronic pain conditions.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2025-03-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adq0261
Citations
7
Primary Topic
Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
6.99

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Thermosensory predictive coding underpins an illusion of pain

Camila Sardeto Deolindo, Christoph D. Mathys, Rebecca Astrid Böhme, Leah Banellis et al.
7 citations
Science Advances
Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
6.99
article

Thermosensory predictive coding underpins an illusion of pain

Camila Sardeto Deolindo, Christoph D. Mathys, Rebecca Astrid Böhme, Leah Banellis, A.G. Mitchell, Melina Vejlø, Micah Allen, Arthur Courtin, Francesca Fardo, Niia Nikolova, Christian Holm Steenkjær, Malthe Brændholt, Jesper Fischer Ehmsen, Camilla E. Krænge, Daniel Elmstrøm Christensen
article en
7 citations

Abstract

The human brain has a remarkable ability to learn and update its beliefs about the world. Here, we investigate how thermosensory learning shapes our subjective experience of temperature and the misperception of pain in response to harmless thermal stimuli. Through computational modeling, we demonstrate that the brain uses a probabilistic predictive coding scheme to update beliefs about temperature changes based on their uncertainty. We find that these expectations directly modulate the perception of pain in the thermal grill illusion. Quantitative microstructural brain imaging further revealed that individual variability in computational parameters related to uncertainty-driven learning and decision-making is reflected in the microstructure of brain regions such as the precuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus, cerebellum, as well as basal ganglia and brainstem. These findings provide a framework to understand how the brain infers pain from innocuous thermal inputs, with important implications for the etiology of thermosensory symptoms under chronic pain conditions.

Science AdvancesVol. 11(11)
Aarhus University (DK), University of Cambridge (GB), Aalborg University Hospital (DK), Aarhus University Hospital (DK), Danish Pain Research Center (DK), UCLouvain (BE)
Aarhus Universitet, Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond, Lundbeckfonden, H. Lundbeck A/S
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
6.99
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.