Expectations of the Physiological Responses Can Change the Somatosensory Experience for Acupuncture Stimulation.

Hyun-Seo Song,Ye-Seul Lee,Seung-Woo Yoo,Won-Mo Jung,Younbyoung Chae

doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00074

Hyun-Seo Song, Ye-Seul Lee + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00074

Copy DOI

Abstract

Objective: Humans interpret sensory inputs based on actual stimuli and expectations of the stimuli. We investigated whether manipulating information related to the physiological response could change the somatosensory experience of acupuncture.Methods: Twenty-four participants received tactile stimulations with a von Frey filament on the left arm. Participants were informed that they would receive acupuncture stimulations at different angles while they were presented with changes in their peripheral blood flow (PBF) measured with Laser Doppler perfusion imaging. However, in reality, they were observing premade pseudo-biosignal images (six sessions: one circular, two rectangular elongated, two diagonally elongated, and one cross-fixation [control] shape). After each session, the participants reported the intensity and location of the de qi sensations perceived on their arm using a bodily sensation mapping tool. The spatial patterns of the somatic sensations were visualized using statistical parametric mapping. The F1 score was calculated to measure the similarity between the presented pseudo-biosignals and reported de qi response images.Results: The spatial configurations of the presented pseudo-biosignal images and de qi response images were similar. The rectangular elongated pseudo-biosignal shape had a significantly higher F1 score compared to the control. All tactile stimulations produced similar levels of enhanced PBF regardless of the pseudo-biosignal shape.Conclusion: The spatial configurations of somatic sensations changed according to the presented pseudo-biosignal shape, suggesting that expectations of the physiological response to acupuncture stimulation can influence the perceived somatic sensation.

Highlights

A fundamental characteristic of acupuncture treatment is the elicitation of unique somatic sensations around points stimulated with the insertion of a needle (Chae et al, 2013; Chae and Olausson, 2017)
We presented participants with different Laser Doppler perfusion images of pseudo-biosignal shapes mimicking changes in peripheral blood flow (PBF) and compared the spatial configurations of the somatic sensations induced by tactile stimulation
We demonstrated individual spatial patterns of somatic sensation following tactile stimulation in each condition (Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

A fundamental characteristic of acupuncture treatment is the elicitation of unique somatic sensations around points (i.e., de qi sensations) stimulated with the insertion of a needle (Chae et al, 2013; Chae and Olausson, 2017). Achieving an appropriate de qi sensation is believed to be a key component of acupuncture treatment (Kong et al, 2005; Mao et al, 2007). Effect of Biosignal Information on Sensory Experience data-mining study, 82.1% of studies supported that de qi sensations were closely related to clinical efficacy (Pan et al, 2017). Spatial patterns of acupuncture-induced sensations, including sensations propagated along the acupuncture meridians, have been demonstrated based on a geographic information system using a bodily sensation map (BSM) (Beissner and Marzolff, 2012; Jung et al, 2016). The BSM, one of a digital pen-and-paper platform, is useful to measure location and intensity of the bodily sensation (Jung et al, 2017a,c)

Methods

Results

Conclusion