Daily physical complaints and hippocampal function: An fMRI study of pain modulation by anxiety

► Subjects were scanned during pain stimulation after cues to preset their anxiety. ► They had completed a somatization measurement reflecting daily physical complaints. ► The left hippocampus was responsive to anticipatory anxiety to pain. ► Less hippocampal response to different anxieties correlated with the somatization. ► Altered hippocampal modulatory function while expecting pain underlies somatization.