Kenneth L. Casey

TL;DR: fMRI experiments found that placebo analgesia was related to decreased brain activity in pain-sensitive brain regions, including the thalamus, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex, and was associated with increased activity during anticipation of pain in the prefrontal cortex, providing evidence that placebos alter the experience of pain.

TL;DR: To identify the forebrain and brain stem structures that are active during the perception of acute heat pain in humans, H2 15O positron emission tomographic analyses of cerebral blood flow on nine normal volunteers while they received repetitive noxious and innocuous heat pulses to the forearm.

TL;DR: PET was used to detect increases in regional cerebral blood flow in normal humans as they discriminated differences in the intensity of noxious and innocuous thermal stimulation applied to the nondominant (left) arm and significant increases in rCBF were seen in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex and lenticular nucleus.

TL;DR: An animal model for investigating stimulus-induced rCBF responses in the rat is developed and it is shown that there is a progressive and selective activation of somatosensory and limbic system structures in the brain and brainstem following the subcutaneous injection of formalin.

TL;DR: Both genders showed a bilateral activation of premotor cortex in addition to the activation of a number of contralateral structures, including the posterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex and the cerebellar vermis, during heat pain, however, females had significantly greater activation of thecontralateral prefrontal cortex when compared to the males by direct image subtraction.