Research

Our lab is focused on understanding the social and physiological mechanisms that create, modulate, and maintain sociocultural disparities in pain. We also conduct research on individual differences in pain processing, cross-cultural modulation of pain and empathy, and social/environmental effects on health broadly defined. Our work is fundamentally interdisciplinary, and relies upon the integration of methods from experimental social psychology, neuroscience, and clinical and physiological pain research. We also love to collaborate with colleagues and students across disciplines and professions!

Updated citations with links to full papers can be found on Dr. Vani Mathur’s Scholars@TAMU page

2025

Dildine, T.C., Janevic, M.R., Hood, A.M., Meints, S.M., Booker, S.Q., Mathur, V.A. (in press). The ‘External Validity Crisis’: Now is the time to address the attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion in pain science. PAIN.

Paganini, G.A., *Weaver, A.E., *Carroll, A., Ruben, M.A., Mathur, V.A., Lloyd, E.P. (2025). Leveraging insights from the psychological science of gender stereotyping to advance scholarship on gender-diverse individuals' pain experiences. The Journal of Pain, 105430. Abstract.
Boring, B.L. & Mathur, V.A. (2025). Gender discrimination is associated with greater chronic pain interference. The Journal of Pain, 105376. Abstract.
Schramm, S., Börner-Schröder, C., Ramschütz, C., Reichert, M., Androulakis, X., Ashina, M., Coppola, G., Cucchiara, B., Dong, Z., Du, X., Fischer-Schulte, L.H., Goadsby, P., Häckert Christensen, R., Henderson, L., Hougaard, A., Jianreng, L., Juhasz, G., Karsan, N., Kong, J., Lee, J., Lee, M.J., Linnman, N.C., Mathur, V.A., May, A., Mehnert, J., Moulton, E., Niddam, D., Schoenen, J., Seminowicz, D.A., Stankewitz, A., Tu, Y., Veréb, D., Yin, T., Zimmer, C., Heinen, F., Baum, T., Bonfert, M.V., Sollmann, N. (2025). Consensus Recommendations to Establish Reporting Standards in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Migraine: A Delphi Study. Neurology, 104(5), e210235. Abstract.

2024

AuBuchon, K.E., Stock, M.L., Mathur, V.A., Attey, B., Bowleg, L. (2024). Bystander acknowledgment mitigates the psychological and physiological pain of racial discrimination for Black young adults: A randomized clinical trial. The Journal of Pain, 25(9), 104560. Abstract.
Boring, B.L., *Walsh, K.T., Ng, B.W., Schlegel, R.J., Mathur, V.A. (2024). Experiencing pain invalidation is associated with underreporting of pain: A social psychological perspective on pain communication. The Journal of Pain, 25(5), 104428. Open Access.

2023

=Mathur, V.A., =Payano Sosa, J.S., Keaser, M.L., Meiller, T.F., Seminowicz, D.A. (in press). The social context of Burning Mouth Syndrome: An exploratory pilot study of stigma, discrimination, and pain. Pain Medicine. PrePrint.
=equal author contributions
Nanavaty, N., Walsh, K.T., Boring, B.L., Ganesan, A., Carter-Sowell, A.R., Mathur, V.A. (in press). Acute ostracism-related pain sensitization is enhanced in the context of accumulated lifetime experiences of ostracism. The Journal of Pain. Open Access.
Boring, B.L., Richter, A., Mathur, V.A. (2023). Higher self-perceived stress reactivity is associated with increased chronic pain risk. PAIN Reports, 8(2), e1068. Open Access.
Nanavaty, N., Thompson, C.G., Meagher, M.W., McCord, C., Mathur, V.A. (2023). Traumatic life experience and pain sensitization: Meta-analysis of laboratory findings. Clinical Journal of Pain, 39(1), 15-28. Abstract.
Hood, A.M., Morias, C.A., Aroke, E.N., Booker, S.Q., Campbell, L.C., Campbell, C.M., Goodin, B.R., Janevic, M., Kapos, F.P., Mathur, V.A., Merriwether, E.N., Letzen, J.E. (2023). Antiracism CoaliTION in Pain Research (ACTION-PR): Guiding principles for equity in reporting. The Journal of Pain, 24(1), 19-21. Open Access.

2022

Walsh, K.T., Nanavaty, N., Boring, B.L., Carter-Sowell, A.R., Mathur, V.A. (2022). Lifetime experiences of ostracism and mechanisms of pain. Frontiers in Pain Research, 3, 1037472. Open Access.
Walsh, K.T., Boring, B.L., Nanavaty, N., Guzman, H., Mathur, V.A. (2022). Sociocultural context and pre-clinical pain facilitation: Multiple dimensions of racialized discrimination experienced by Latinx Americans are associated with enhanced temporal summation of pain. The Journal of Pain, 23(11), 1885-1893. Open Access.
Boring, B.L., Ng, B.W., Nanavaty, N., Mathur, V.A. (in press). Over-rating pain is overrated: A fundamental self-other bias in pain reporting behavior. The Journal of Pain. Open Access.
Mathur, V.A., Trost, Z., Ezenwa, M., Sturgeon, J.A., Hood, A. (2022). Mechanisms of injustice: What we (don’t) know about racialized disparities in pain. PAIN, 163(6), 999-1005. Open Access.
Janevic, M., Mathur, V.A., Booker, S.Q., Morais, C., Meints, S., Yeager, K.A., Meghani, S.H. (2022) Making pain research more inclusive: Why and how. Journal of Pain, 23(5), 707-728. Open Access.
Boring, B.L., Maffly-Kipp, J., Mathur, V.A., Hicks, J.A. (2022). The differential effect of coherence, purpose, and mattering on pain severity and the development of chronic pain. Journal of Pain Research 15, 299-314. Open Access.
Letzen, J.E., Mathur, V.A., Janevic, M., Burton, M.D., Hood, A.M., Morias, C.A., Booker, S.Q., Campbell, C.M., Aroke, E.N., Goodin, B.R., Campbell, L.C., Merriwether, E.N. (2022) Confronting racism in all forms of pain research: Reframing study designs. The Journal of Pain. Open Access.
Morias, C.A., Aroke, E.N., Letzen, J.E., Campbell, C.M., Hood, A.M., Janevic, M., Mathur, V.A., Merriwether, E.N., Goodin, B.R., Booker, S.Q., Campbell, L.C. (2022) Confronting racism in all forms of pain research: A call to action. The Journal of Pain. Open Access.
Hood, A.M., Booker, S.Q., Morias, C.A., Goodin, B.R., Letzen, J.E., Campbell, L.C., Merriwether, E.N., Aroke, E.N., Campbell, C.M., Mathur, V.A., Janevic, M. (2022) Confronting racism in all forms of pain research: A shared commitment for engagement, diversity, and dissemination. The Journal of Pain. Open Access.

2021

Mathur, V. A., Nyman, T., Nanavaty, N., George, N., & Brooker, R. J. (2021). Trajectories of pain during pregnancy predict symptoms of postpartum depression. PAIN Reports, 6(2), e933. Open Access.
Boring, B.L., Walsh, K.T., Nanavaty, N., Mathur, V.A. (2021). Shame mediates the relationship between pain invalidation and depression. Frontiers in Psychology – Health Psychology, 12, 5673. Open Access.
Boring, B.L., Walsh, K.T., Nanavaty, N., Ng, B.W., Mathur, V.A. (2021). How and why do patient concerns influence pain reporting?: A qualitative analysis of personal accounts and perceptions of others’ use of numerical pain scales. Frontiers in Psychology – Health Psychology, 12, 2232. Open Access.
Kim, H., Nanavaty, N., Ahmed, H., Mathur, V.A., Anderson, B.A. (2021). Motivational salience guides attention to valuable and threatening stimuli: Evidence from behavior and fMRI. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 33(12), 2440-2460. PsyArXiv.
Guthrie, D., Boring, B.L., Maffly-Kipp, J., Mathur, V.A., Hicks, J.A. (2021). The experience of meaning in life in the context of pain-related disability. In Wehmeyer, M.L. & Dunn, D.S. (Eds.) Understanding Disability: The Positive Psychology of Personal Factors. (Ch. 10). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

2020

Mathur, V.A., Morris, T., McNamara, K. (2020). Cultural conceptions of women’s labor pain and labor pain management: A mixed-methods analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 261, 113240. Open Access.
Rassu, F.S., Luedke, J.C., Nanavaty, N., Mathur, V.A., Meagher, M.W. (2020). Greater mechanical temporal summation of pain in Latinx-Americans and the role of adverse life experiences. PAIN Reports, 5(5), e842. Open Access.

2019

Ng, B.W., Nanavaty, N., Mathur, V.A. (2019). The influence of Latinx American identity on pain perception and treatment seeking. Journal of Pain Research, 12, 3025-3035. Open Access.

2017

Petre, B., Tetreault, P., Mathur, V.A., Schurgin, M., Chiao, J., Huang, L., Apkarian, A.V. (2017). A central mechanism enhances pain perception of noxious thermal stimulus changes. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 3894. Open Access.

2016

Speed, T.J., Mathur, V.A., Hand, M., Christensen, B., Sponseller, P.D., Williams, K.A., Campbell, C.M.(2016). Characterization of pain, disability, and psychological burden in Marfan syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A. 9999A:1–9. Open Access.
Mathur, V.A., Kiley, K.B., Pejsa, M., Haywood, C., Bediako, S., Lanzkron, S., Buenaver, L.F., Edwards, R.R., Haythornthwaite, J.A., Campbell, C.M. (2016). Multiple-levels of suffering: Discrimination in health care settings is associated with greater laboratory pain sensitivity in sickle cell disease. Clinical Journal of Pain. Open Access.
Mathur, V.A., Kiley, K.B., Carroll, C.P., Edwards, R.R., Lanzkron, S., Haythornthwaite, J.A., Campbell, C.M. (2016). Disease related, non-disease related, and situational catastrophizing in sickle cell disease and its relationship with pain. Journal of Pain. PMCfree.
Mathur, V.A., Moayedi, M., Keaser, M.L., Khan, S.A., Hubbard, C.S., Goyal, M., Seminowicz, D.A. (2016). High frequency migraine is associated with lower acute pain sensitivity and abnormal insula activity related to migraine pain intensity, attack frequency, and pain catastrophizing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 489. Open Access.
Mathur, V.A., Cheon B.K., Harada, T., Scimeca, J., Chiao, J.Y. (2016). Overlapping neural response to the pain or harm of people, animals, and nature. Neuropsychologia, 81, 265-273. PrePrint.
Chiao, J.Y. & Mathur, V.A. (2016). Cultural neuroscience of pain and empathy. In Chiao, J.Y., Li, S., Seligman, R., and Turner, R. (Eds.) Handbook of Cultural Neuroscience. (Ch. 18). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

2015

Mathur, V.A., Khan, S.A., Keaser, M.L., Hubbard, C.S., Goyal, M., Seminowicz, D.A. (2015). Altered cognition-related brain activity and interactions with acute pain in migraine. NeuroImage: Clinical, 7, 347–358. Open Access.

2014

Mathur, V.A., Richeson, J.A., Paice, J.A., Muzyka, M., Chiao, J.Y. (2014). Racial bias in pain perception and response: experimental examination of automatic and deliberate processes. Journal of Pain, 15(5), 476–484. PMCfree.
Hubbard, C.S., Khan, S.A., Keaser, M.L., Mathur, V.A., Goyal, M., Seminowicz, D.A. (2014). Altered brain structure and function correlate with disease severity and pain catastrophizing in migraine patients. eNeuro, 1(1). Open Access.

2013

Cheon, B.K., Im, D., Harada, T., Kim, J., Mathur, V.A., Scimeca, J., Parrish, T.B., Park, H., Chiao, J.Y. (2013). The cultural modulation of the neural correlates of empathy: The role of ‘other-focusedness’. Neuropsychologia, 51(7), 1177-1186. PubMed.

2012

Campbell, C.M., McCauley, L., Bounds, S.C., Mathur, V.A., Conn, L., Simango, M., Edwards, R.R., Fontaine, K. (2012). Changes in pain catastrophizing predict later changes in fibromyalgia clinical and experimental pain report: Cross-lagged panel analyses of dispositional and situational catastrophizing. Arthritis Research & Therapy, 14(5), R231. Open Access.
Mathur, V.A., Harada, T., Chiao, J.Y. (2012). Racial identification modulates default network activity for same and other races. Human Brain Mapping, 33(8): 1883-1893. PubMed.

2011

Chiao, J.Y., Blizinsky, K.D., Mathur, V.A., Cheon, B.K. (2011). Culture-gene coevolution of empathy and altruism. In Oakley, B., Knafo, A., Madhavan, G., Wilson, D.S. (Eds.) Pathological Altruism (Ch. 22). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Cheon, B.K., Im, D., Harada, T., Kim, J., Mathur, V.A., Scimeca, J., Parrish, T.B., Park, H., Chiao, J.Y. (2011). Cultural influences on neural basis of intergroup empathy. NeuroImage, 57(2), 642-650. PubMed.

2010

Cheon, B.K., Mathur, V.A., Chiao, J.Y. (2010). Empathy as cultural process: Insights from the cultural neuroscience of empathy. World Cultural Psychiatry Research Review, 5, 32-42. Full Text.
Chiao, J.Y. & Mathur, V.A. (2010). Intergroup empathy: Empathic neural response for same- but not other-races. Current Biology, 20(11): R478-R480. Open Access.
Mathur, V.A., Harada, T., Lipke, T., Chiao, J.Y. (2010). Neural basis of extraordinary empathy and altruistic motivation. NeuroImage, 51(4): 1468-1475. PubMed.

2009

Chiao, J.Y, Mathur, V.A., Harada, T., Lipke, T. (2009). Neural basis of preference for hierarchy versus egalitarianism. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1167, 174-81. PubMed.

2007

Lawson, E.A., Miller, K.K., Mathur, V.A., Misra, M., Meenaghan, E., Herzog, D.B., Klibanski, A. (2007). Hormonal and nutritional effects on cardiovascular risk markers in young women. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 92(8):3089-94. PMCfree.
Miller, K.K., Lawson, E., Mathur, V., Wexler, T., Meenaghan, E., Misra, M., Herzog, D., Klibanski, A. (2007). Androgens in women with anorexia nervosa and normal-weight women with hypothalamic amenorrhea. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 92(4):1334-9. PMCfree.

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