ArticleBrain sciences2020
Anhedonia to Gentle Touch in Fibromyalgia: Normal Sensory Processing but Abnormal Evaluation.
Article in Brain sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guideline
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometric studies of fibromyalgia.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Disrupted Dorsal Mid-Insula Activation During Interoception Across Psychiatric Disorders.The American journal of psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- The hijacked insula: A stratified model of affective touch modulation in chronic pain.Journal of neuropsychology · 2026Review
- Distinct effects of fibromyalgia pain, depression and anxiety on perception of affective touch and pain.The Journal of physiology · 2026Article
- Technologies to investigate the mechanisms of force-based manipulations: a narrative methods review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Aftersensations and Lingering Pain After Examination in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Taking an embodied avatar's perspective modulates the temporal dynamics of vicarious pain and pleasure: a virtual reality and EEG study.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Context is Complex: Challenges and opportunities addressing contextual factors in manual therapy mechanisms research.International journal of osteopathic medicine : IJOM · 2025Article
- The effects of shared, depression-specific, and anxiety-specific internalizing symptoms on negative and neutral episodic memories following post-learning sleep.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Small fiber pathology in fibromyalgia syndrome.Pain reports · 2025Review
- Research Progress on Neural Processing of Hand and Forearm Tactile Sensation: A Review Based on fMRI Research.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Review
- Investigation of Anhedonia, Emotional Expression, and Emotion Regulation Difficulties in Individuals Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.Turk psikiyatri dergisi = Turkish journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Sensory processing in medically unexplained pain syndrome. A systematic review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
- The Hedonic Experience Associated with a Gentle Touch Is Preserved in Women with Fibromyalgia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Review
- Surveying the International Prevalence and Nature of Eating, Drinking and Swallowing Difficulties in Adults Presenting with Fibromyalgia.Dysphagia · 2024Article
- Social Touch Reduces Pain Perception-An fMRI Study of Cortical Mechanisms.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Pregabalin and hyperbaric oxygen therapy on pain thresholds and anxio-depressive behaviors in a preclinical fibromyalgia pain model.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Social touch is important for interpersonal interaction. Gentle touch and slow brushing are typically perceived as pleasant, the degree of pleasantness is linked to the activity of the C-tactile (CT) fibers, a class of unmyelinated nerves in the skin. The inability to experience pleasure in general is called anhedonia, a common phenomenon in the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia. Here, we studied the perception and cortical processing of gentle touch in a well-characterized cohort of fibromyalgia. Patients and controls participated in functional brain imaging while receiving tactile stimuli (brushing) on the forearm. They were asked to provide ratings of pleasantness of the tactile stimulus and ongoing pain. We found high distress, pain catastrophizing, and insomnia, and a low perceived state of health in fibromyalgia. Further, patients rated both slow (CT-optimal) and fast (CT-suboptimal) brushing as less pleasant than healthy participants. While there was no difference in brain activity during touch, patients showed deactivation in the right posterior insula (contralateral to the stimulated arm) during pleasantness rating and activation during pain rating. The opposite pattern was observed in healthy participants. Voxel-based morphometry analysis revealed reduced grey matter density in patients, in the bilateral hippocampus and anterior insula. Our results suggest anhedonia to gentle touch in fibromyalgia with intact early-stage sensory processing but dysfunctional evaluative processing. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying anhedonia in fibromyalgia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.