My research aims at understanding how the brain encodes the subjective experience of pain using a variety of psychophysiological and brain imaging techniques (skin conductance, reflexes, EEG, fMRI). How is pain affected by prior expectations and ongoing emotional states? Why do some people experience more pain than others, and why does sometimes pain seem to endure despite the absence of peripheral injury?

Selected References:

Roy, M., Daw, N., Shohamy, D., Wager, T.D. (2014). Representation of aversive prediction error in the human periaqueductal gray. Nature Neuroscience, 17(11): 1607-12.

Roy, M., Shohamy, D., Wager, T.D. (2012). Ventromedial prefrontal-subcortical systems and the generation of meaning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 16(3): 147-56.

Roy, M., Lebuis, A., Peretz, I., Rainville, P. (2012). Spinal modulation of nociception by music. European Journal of Pain. 16(6):870-7

Roy, M., Piché, M., Chen, J., Peretz, I., Rainville, P. (2009). Cerebral and spinal modulation of pain by emotions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 106(49): 20900-20905.