Room 422, Library Building, 2nd Floor (Online participation available)
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NICE_Lab is pleased to present the NICE_Talk “Reward Processing as a Neurobehavioral Biomarker in Chronic Pain,” which will take place on March 20 at 4:00 PM in person at the Palma de Cima Campus (Room 422, Library Building, 2nd Floor) with the option to participate online.
Speakers:
- Inês Cabaço is a clinical neuropsychologist and a Ph.D. candidate in Cognition, Language, and Neuroscience at the Portuguese Catholic University. She is a researcher at NICE_Lab at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Health and is dedicated to studying the cognitive and motivational mechanisms involved in chronic pain.
- Marina Nóbrega is a master’s student in Telecommunications and Computer Engineering at the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon. She works on the acquisition and analysis of biological signals (EEG, ECG, and EDA), with a focus on the processing and identification of patterns in physiological data.
This session will be dedicated to the topic of PAIN.
Topic: Reward Processing as a Neurobehavioral Biomarker in Chronic Pain
Abstract:
Chronic pain involves lasting changes in brain networks that integrate sensory, emotional, and motivational processes. Among these, mesolimbic reward circuits, which include structures such as the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area, play a central role in modulating motivation and incentive-based learning (Leknes & Tracey, 2008; Navratilova & Porreca, 2014). Growing evidence indicates that individuals with chronic pain exhibit alterations in the anticipation of and response to rewarding stimuli, phenomena frequently associated with anhedonia and comorbid affective disorders.
This presentation introduces a project investigating the processing of social and non-social rewards as a potential neurobehavioral biomarker of chronic pain, using experimental paradigms widely employed in cognitive neuroscience. The integrated analysis of behavioral and psychophysiological indicators will allow for the characterization of motivational patterns associated with pain and contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved in its chronicity.