Sensorimotor interaction between somatosensory painful stimuli and motor sequences affects both anticipatory alpha rhythms and behavior as a function of the event side

It has been shown that concomitant painful stimulation and simple movement at the same hand is related to decreased anticipatory alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) and reduced pain intensity, possibly due to the interference between somatosensory and motor information processing (Babiloni et al. [6]). Here, we tested the hypothesis that such interference also affects motor performance during sequential movements. Visual warning stimuli were followed by imperative stimuli associated to electrical painful stimulation at left or right middle finger; imperative stimuli triggered motor sequences with right index finger. Electroencephalographic data (N = 10, 128 electrodes) were spatially enhanced by surface Laplacian transformation. Cortical activity as revealed by the alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) was compared in “Pain + ipsilateral movement” condition (movements and painful stimuli performed at the right hand) vs. “Pain + contralateral movement” condition (painful stimuli at left hand and movements performed at the right hand). Results showed that compared with the “Pain + contralateral movement” condition, the “Pain + ipsilateral movement” condition induced lower anticipatory alpha ERD (about 10–12 Hz) in left sensorimotor area, lower subjective pain rate, and delayed movement initiation at the group level. These findings suggest that anticipatory alpha rhythms may underlie cortical preparatory sensorimotor processes preceding somatosensory painful and the initiation of sequential motor events occurring at unilateral or bilateral hand.