Source imaging of the cortical 10 Hz oscillations during cooling and warming in humans.

Primary cold and warm afferent fibers show a robust overshoot in their firing during periods of temperature change, which subsides during tonic thermal stimulation. Our objective was to analyze cortical activation, on a scale of hundreds of milliseconds, occurring during the process of dynamic cooling and warming, based on an evaluation of the amplitude changes seen in 10 Hz electroencephalographic oscillations. Eleven right-handed subjects were exposed to innocuous cold ramp stimuli (from 32 degrees C to 22 degrees C, 10 degrees C/s) and warm ramp stimuli (32 degrees C to 42 degrees C, 10 degrees C/s) on the thenar region of their right palm, using a contact thermode.