NCBI ROFL: Experimental setup: listen to laughter while a scientist burns your hands with a laser.

Modulation of pain by emotional sounds: A laser-evoked potential study. "BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown increases in experimental pain during induction of a negative emotion with visual stimuli, verbal statements or unpleasant odours. The goal of the present study was to analyse the spatio-temporal activation patterns underlying pain augmentation during negative emotional sounds. METHODS: Negative (e.g., crying), positive (e.g., laughter) and neutral (e.g., distant traffic) sound samples of 4 s duration were presented while noxious laser stimuli were administered to the dorsum of the right hand in 16 healthy participants. The electroencephalographic laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) were modelled using six equivalent source dipoles located in the left and right fronto-opercular/anterior-insular cortex, left parietal operculum, left primary somatosensory cortex, medial parietal cortex and left medial temporal cortex. RESULTS: Negative emotional sounds were associated with stronger pain than neutral or positive sounds. The source activity in the left medial temporal cortex, purportedly involving ...