affective_sfmri.zip

Healthy participants were imaged at 3 tesla (Siemens Magnetom Trio) using a T2-weighted single-shot 

fast spin-echo sequence (HASTE) for BOLD contrast and high image quality in the brainstem and spinal cord.

Images were acquired in contiguous sagittal planes spanning from below the T1/T2 intervertebral disc to above

the thalamus.

Participants were familiarized with the study paradigm in advance, and temperatures were calibrated to produce

a pain rating of 50 on a 100 point scale (corresponding to "moderate pain").  Variations in pain ratings occured across

repeated runs but the temperature was not varied after the initial calibration.

Multiple runs were acquired in each participant in a randomly interleaved manner.  For "stim" runs the participant was informed 1 minute after the start of the run that a stimulus would be applied. The stimulus was applied 

starting 1 minute 50 seconds after the start of the run, and consisted of 10 brief contacts of heated thermode against the skin overlying the thenar eminence on the right hand (C6 dermatome).  Contacts lasted 1.5 seconds and onsets were every 3 seconds, for a total of 30 seconds of stimulation. After the stimulus scanning was continued for 2 minutes 10 seconds.  The total duration of each run was 4 minutes 30 seconds.

For "nostim" runs participants were informed 1 minute after the start of the run that a stimulus woudl not be applied.

The run continued for the total duration of 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

A rest period of 2 minutes was allowed between repeated runs to allow receptors on the skin to recover and to

acquire pain ratings from the participant.

The total TR for each volume is 6.75 seconds (TR is specified per slice for HASTE sequences, and the actual slice TR was 750 msec, not the 720 msec specified in the image headers), and a total of 40 volumes were acquired for each run. 

A total of 5 runs were acquired for each study type (stim or nostim) in each participant and these data are to 

be combined into one data set for each study type. One exception is participant 17 with 4 runs acquired in the

nostim condition.

Participant information and pain ratings for each run are provided in the Excel files.