The Dynamic Pain Connectome

This talk will provide an overview of the dynamic pain connectome. This concept arose from behavioural and brain imaging studies in the Davis lab that examined individual differences in how people tend to attend to pain vs mind-wander away from pain, as reflected by a metric and behavioural phenotype we call intrinsic attention to pain (IAP). I will also review how this relates to another behavioural phenotype (A/P types) that is based on how an individual balances the attentional demands of a cognitive task with a painful stimulus. I will also discuss sex differences in the dynamic pain connectome as well as the challenges and potential new approaches to studies of IAP and A/P phenotypes in people with chronic pain.