Contextual Modulation of Fronto‐Central, Parietal, and Global Peak Alpha Frequency

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Abstract
Background: Peak alpha frequency (PAF), the dominant frequency in the alpha band (8–12 Hz), has been proposed as a biomarker of pain sensitivity, but mixed findings may reflect broad sensory and cognitive influences on PAF. Operant conditioning can modulate pain perception and related brain activity, but its effect on PAF has not been explored. This study investigated if PAF was lower in the context of punishment compared to PAF in the context of reward and whether these contexts differentially modulate PAF when pain intensity is held constant. Methods: Twenty‐nine healthy participants performed an auditory task while receiving painful pressure stimuli within a reward and punishment context, achieved via feedback on response correctness followed by a consequential change in pressure (maintained pressure with relief and maintained pressure with increase). Electroencephalography was recorded continuously, and PAF was extracted from frontal, central, parietal, and global regions of interest. Results: PAF was significantly lower after an incorrect response in the reward context, compared to a correct response in the punishment context, despite matched pain intensity. A more consistent finding was that PAF was lower following an incorrect response in the punishment context (increased pain) compared to a correct response in the same context (maintained pain). Conclusions: These findings suggest that PAF is modulated by ongoing pain intensity within a fixed motivational context, while evidence for context‐specific effects (reward vs. punishment) remains preliminary and warrants replication. Significance Statement: This study introduces a paradigm in which task performance determined whether pressure pain increased or decreased, to test whether context shapes peak alpha frequency (PAF) independently of pain intensity. Lower PAF was observed when pain increased, suggesting that PAF tracks pain intensity when context is held constant. A preliminary, cross‐context difference in PAF at matched pain intensities warrants replication in an adequately powered sample.

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