PSYC 211 Chapter 7.6: 7.6
3 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Pain is a curious phenomenon and it is more than a mere sensation. In most cases, pain serves a constructive role, e. g. pakistani family. Some environmental events diminish the perception of pain, e. g. american soldiers. Pain appears to have three different perceptual and behavioural effects. The third component is the long-term emotional implications of chronic pain. It has also been suggested that the phantom limb sensation is inherent in the organization of the parietal cortex which is involved in our awareness of our own bodies. Pain perception can be modified by experimental stimuli, and there are also neural circuits whose activity can produce analgesia, and environmental stimuli can activate these circuits, causing the release of endogenous opioids. Electrical stimulation of particular locations within the brain can cause analgesia, profoundly enough even for surgery in rats: the most effective locations seem to be within the periaqueductal gray matter and in the rostroventral medulla.
