Brain Asymmetry in Pain Affective Modulation Toutain, Thaise Graziele L. de O. Alba Lasso, Guzmán Miranda, José García Vivas Silva do Rosário, Raphael Muñoz García, Miguel Ángel Pondé de Sena, Eduardo Pain Emotions Brain asymmetry Objective The aim of this study was to characterize the dynamic brain networks underlying the affective modulation of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral image perception due to painful stimulations in healthy subjects. Methods Forty volunteers, 20 men and 20 women, participated in this study. Brain activity was recorded by 64-channel electroencephalography. After data cleaning, brain functional networks were built through the use of the motif synchronization method. Results We found that increased cerebral connectivity in the left hemisphere under the pain condition broke the connection symmetry. Both women and men showed homophilic connections (intrahemispheric), but women were more homophilic than men. The pain condition increased homophily in the left hemisphere, and emotions could modulate pain. The frontal, central, and left temporal regions showed homophilic variation, depending on the emotional stimulus. Conclusions Pain and emotions altered brain activity. There was increased connectivity and homophily in the left brain hemisphere for the painful experience. The emotions modulated brain activity in the pain condition. Overall, the brain presented homophilic characteristics; homophily changed, depending on emotion or pain. The left brain hemisphere seems to be related to pain processing. 2026-02-27T12:15:28Z 2026-02-27T12:15:28Z 2022-04-08 journal article Thaise Graziele L de O Toutain, Guzmán Alba, José Garcia Vivas Miranda, Raphael Silva do Rosário, Miguel Muñoz, Eduardo Pondé de Sena, Brain Asymmetry in Pain Affective Modulation, Pain Medicine, Volume 23, Issue 4, April 2022, Pages 686–696, https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnab232 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111682 10.1093/pm/pnab232 eng open access Oxford University Press