About this Research Topic

Background

Mental imagery refers to representations of sensory information without a direct external stimulus. These may occur either as auditory, visual, gustatory, olfactory, or the somatic and visceral sensory symptoms, including pain. Representations of early perceptual processing not triggered by corresponding sensory stimulation may be constitutive, rather than causal, to the pain experience. The analgesic actions of non-painful sensory stimulation on pain were the basis for our first modern theory of pain relief, the gate theory. More recently, non-somatosensory inputs have been shown to reduce pain. Mirror therapy for phantom limb pain is a movement representation technique that uses the reflection of voluntary movements of the intact limb to provide an illusion that movement of an amputated limb was performed without pain or hindrance. Immersive virtual reality (VR) using more complex visual and auditory stimuli to reduce painful experience have been applied for decades. This burgeoning field now has its own dedicated society, the American Medical Extended Reality Association (https://amxra.org/); the FDA hosted its first public workshop for medical extended reality (MXR) in March 2020 with a dedicated Program for MXR through its Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Finally, mental motor imagery (MMI) is a technique that has been utilized to measure pain intensity in the lower back and extremities. All of these modalities are associated with forebrain networks that bridge the motor and sensory systems.

The goal of this special issue is to integrate these clinical applications of mental imagery for pain with its neural correlates. Topics include:

• Imaging therapy for chronic painful conditions (i.e. mirror therapy for phantom limb, virtual reality assisted physical therapy for low back pain);
• Mental Motor Imagery and Chronic Pain Assessment;
• Mental Motor Imagery and Virtual-Reality Associated Functional Imaging and Basic Neuroanatomy.

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Mental Imagery; Pain Relief; Mirror Therapy; Virtual Reality (VR); Mental Motor Imagery (MMI); Neural Correlates

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