Gastroenterology
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In patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), pain amplification and hypervigilance might result from altered affective-motivational modulation of the pain response. We investigated the effects of emotional context on the behavioral and neural response to visceral stimuli in IBS patients. ⋯ IBS patients appear to have disrupted emotional modulation of neural responses to visceral stimuli, possibly reflecting the neural basis for altered visceral interoception by stress and negative emotions.