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Robert C. Coghill, PhD

Associate Professor

E-mail:  rcoghill@wakehealth.edu   

Education

Virginia Commonwealth University, 1991

Research

The capacity to monitor the integrity of our bodies and to be made immediately aware of injury through the experience of pain is critical for our survival. However, the central nervous system mechanisms that translate information about tissue damage into the conscious experience of pain remain poorly understood. Thus, the central objective of my research is to better characterize fundamental aspects of pain processing mechanisms of the brain. Most studies within my laboratory employ both psychophysical and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques to explore the relationship between regional brain activation and discrete aspects of the pain experience.

Selected Publications

Coghill, R.C., Talbot, J.D., Meyer, E., Gjedde, A., Evans, A.C., Bushnell, M.C., and Duncan, G.H. Distributed processing of pain and vibration in the human brain. J. Neurosci. 14:4095-4108, 1994.

Coghill, R.C. Brain Mechanisms Supporting the Pain Experience: A Distributed Processing System. In: Pain 1999 - An Updated Review, edited by M. Max. Seattle: IASP Press, 1999.

Coghill, R.C., Sang, C.N., Maisog, J.Ma., and Iadarola, M.J. Pain intensity processing within the human brain: A bilateral, distributed mechanism. J. Neurophysiol. 82:1934-1943, 1999.

Coghill, R.C., Gilron, I., and Iadarola, M.J. Hemispheric lateralization of somatosensory processing. J. Neurophysiol. 85:2602-2612, 2001.

Grill, J.D., and Coghill, R.C. Transient analgesia evoked by noxious stimulus offset. J. Neurophysiol. 87:2205-2208, 2002. 

Rosier, E.M., Iadarola, M.J., Coghill, R.C.  Reproducibility of pain measurement and pain perception.  Pain 98:205-216, 2002.  

Koyama, T., McHaffie, J.G., Laurienti, P.J., Coghill, R.C.  The single-epoch design: validation of a simplified paradigm for the collection of subjective ratings.  NeuroImage 19 (3):976-987, 2003.

Coghill, R.C., McHaffie, J.G., Yen, Y.-F.  Neural correlates of inter-individual differences in the subjective experience of pain.  Proc Natl Acad Sci 100: 8538-8542, 2003.

Koyama, Y., Koyama, T., Kroncke, A.P, Coghill, R.C.  Effects of stimulus duration on heat-induced pain: The relationship between real-time and post-stimulus pain ratings.  Pain 107: 256-266, 2004.

Koyama, T., McHaffie, J., Laurienti, P., and Coghill, R.  The subjective experience of pain: Where expectations become reality.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102(36): 12950-12955, 2005

Pan, P.H., Eisenach, J.C., Coghill, R., Houle, T.T., Seid, M.H., Lindel, W.M., Parker, R.L., Washburn, S.A., Harris, L.  Multi-factorial preoperative predictors for post cesarean section pain and analgesic requirement.  Anesthesiology 104: 417-425, 2006.

Oshiro, Y., Quevedo, A.S., McHaffie, J.G., Kraft, R.A., Coghill, R.C.  Brain mechanisms supporting spatial discrimination of pain.   J. Neuroscience 27(13): 3388-3394, 2007.

Quevedo, A.S., Coghill, R.C.  An illusion of proximal radiation of pain due to distally directed inhibition.  Journal of Pain 8(3): 280-286, 2007.

Yosipovitch, G., Duque, M.I., Fast, K., Dawn, A.G., and Coghill, R.C.  Scratching and noxious heat stimuli inhibit itch in humans: a psychophysical study.  Br. J. Dermatol. 156(4):629-634, 2007.

Veldhuijzen, D.S., Greenspan, J.D., Kim, J.H., Coghill, R.C., Treede, R.D., Ohara, S., Lenz, F.A.  Imaging central pain syndromes.  Curr. Pain Headache Rep. 11(3):183-189, 2007.

Kim, J.H., Greenspan, J.D., Coghill, R.C., Ohara, S., Lenz, F.A.  Lesions limited to the human thalamic principal somatosensory nucleus (ventral caudal) are associated with loss of cold sensations and central pain.  J Neurosci. 27(18):4995-5004, 2007.

Quevedo, A.S. and Coghill, R.C.  Attentional modulation of spatial integration of pain: Evidence for dynamic spatial tuning.  J. Neurosci. 27(43):11635-40, 2007.

Ishiuji, Y., Coghill, R.C., Patel, T.S., Dawn, A., Fountain, J., Oshiro, Y., Yosipovitch, G.  Repetitive scratching and noxious heat do not inhibit histamine-induced itch in atopic dermatitis.  Br J Dermatol. 58(1):78-83, 2008.

Yelle, M.D., Rogers, J.M., Coghill, R.C.  Offset analgesia: A temporal contrast mechanism for nociceptive information.  Pain 134(1-2):174-86, 2008.

Yosipovitch, G., Ishiuji, Y., Patel, T.S., Hicks, M.I., Oshiro, Y., Kraft, R.A., Winnicki, E., and Coghill, R.C.  The brain processing of scratching.  J. Invest. Dermatol. 128(7): 1806-1811, 2008.

Greenspan, J.D., Coghill, R.C., Gilron, I., Sarlani, E., Veldhuijzen, D.S., Lenz, F.A.  Quantitative somatic sensory testing and functional imaging of the response to painful stimuli before and after cingulotomy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).  European Journal of Pain 12: 990-999, 2008.

Starr, C.J., Sawaki, L., Wittenberg, G.F., Burdette, J.H., Oshiro, Y., Quevedo, A.S., and Coghill, R.C.  Roles of the insular cortex in the modulation of pain: insights from brain lesions.  J. Neurosci. 29(9): 2684-2694, 2009.

Yelle, M.D., Oshiro, Y., Kraft, R.A., and Coghill, R.C. Temporal filtering of nociceptive information by dynamic activation of endogenous pain modulatory mechanisms.  J. Neurosci. 29(33): 10264-10271, 2009.

Oshiro, Y., Quevedo, A.S., McHaffie, J.G., Kraft, R.A., and Coghill, R.C.  Brain mechanisms supporting discrimination of sensory features of pain:  A new model.  J. Neurosci. 29(47): 14924-14931, 2009.

Ishiuji, Y., Coghill, R.C., Patel, T.S., Oshiro, Y., Kraft, R.A., and Yosipovitch, G.  Distinct patterns of brain activity evoked by histamine-induced itch reveal an association with itch intensity and disease severity in atopic dermatitis.  Br. J. Dermatol. 161(5): 1072-1080, 2009.

Quevedo, A.S., Coghill, R.C.  Filling-in, spatial summation, and radiation of pain: Evidence for a neural population code in the nociceptive system.  J. Neurophysiol. 102(6): 3544-3553, 2009.

Wang, H., Papoiu, A.D., Coghill, R.C., Patel, T., Wang, N., and Yosipovith, G.  Ethnic differences in pain, itch and thermal detection in response to topical capsaicin: African Americans display a notably limited hyperalgesia and neurogenic inflammation.  Br. J. Dermatol. 162(5): 1023-1029, 2010.

Mørch, C.D., Andersen, O.K., Quevedo, A.S., Arendt-Nielsen, L., Coghill, R.C.  Exteroceptive aspects of nociception: insights from graphesthesia and two-point discrimination.  Pain 151(1): 45-52, 2010.

Starr, C.J., Houle, T.T., and Coghill, R.C.  Psychological and sensory predictors of experimental thermal pain: a multifactorial model.  J. Pain 11(12): 1394-1402, 2010.

Coghill, R.C.  Individual differences in the subjective experience of pain: New insights into mechanisms and models.  Headache 50(9): 1531-1535, 2010.