This R21 application proposes to establish an exploratory mind-body research program (Utah Center for Exploring Mind-Body Interactions, UCEMBI) within the Pain Research Center at the University of Utah. This program will promote and facilitate transdisciplinary and translational approaches to investigating mind-body interactions and their relationship to health. The primary focus of the proposed research is somatic awareness and its control through mind-body interactions, and the secondary focus is systematic investigations of functional somatic syndromes. Although our primary strength is pain research, the scope of interest extends to awareness of all forms of somatic symptom, including fatigue, nausea, vertigo, dyskinesia, and dystonia. The proposed exploratory center has five central objectives. The first is to develop an infrastructure to investigate mind-body interactions by creating three integrated core support units that serve both currently existing and new pilot research projects at the PRC. The three core units are: Assessment, Methodology and Statistics; Technology-Based Assessment using functional brain imaging and multivariate psychophysiology; and Administrative Support. UCEMBI will support two peer-reviewed pilot studies each year for three years using core resources. Second, UCEMBI will enhance the existing research environment at the University of Utah by facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations between the proposed center and other relevant research units on the campus, and by advancing understanding of the role of somatic awareness in functional somatic syndromes within an integral framework of constructivism and multilevel analytical approach. UCEMBI will attempt to integrate research approaches at different levels of inquiry ranging from neuroscience to sociology. Third, UCEMBI will establish a vibrant intersection of pain research, consciousness studies, and investigations of mind-body interactions that will open new visions for mind-body research. Fourth, UCEMBI will introduce new theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches for research on somatic awareness and its relationship to mind-body interactions in three specific areas: a) the use of magnetoencephalography to document alterations in somatic awareness in mind-body interactions, b) combined use of both """"""""dry"""""""" and """"""""wet"""""""" psychophysiological measures to characterize alterations in somatic awareness in mind-body interactions, and c) integrative synthesis of qualitative and quantitative assessments of alterations in somatic awareness in mind-body interactions. Finally, UCEMBI will strive to raise professional and public awareness of a) the potential value of mind-body medicine in general and b) the importance of somatic awareness in enhancing physical and mental health. ? ?
