Automatic detection of nociceptive pain levels using frequency bands from electroencephalographic (EEG) signals

Pain is considered an unpleasant but vital experience for every living being, it is extremely complex and subjective because it is composed of different variables related to their experiences. Their history, biological sex, socio/cultural context, mood, and hormonal changes can affect their perception. Nociceptive pain is more linked to tissue damage or stimulus, and this will always have a reaction that goes from its activation in the nociceptors in the peripheral nerves of the living being to the central nervous system. The most common way to assess pain today is to apply numerical scales or "How much pain do you feel?" questionnaires, which are usually falsifiable and unreliable. Therefore, this work seeks to make use of biosignals such as Electroencephalography (EEG) to identify and evaluate pain at different levels. This nociceptive pain is generated by applying a laser on the back of the hand, which consists of three different intensities. It has been possible to differentiate between two levels of pain (high pain and low pain) with 83% accuracy using information from the power of frequency bands of the brain signal. Indicating that there are differences in the powers of the frequency bands as pain increases.