PSYC 369 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Nociceptor, Endorphins, Mechanoreceptor
19 Oct 2015
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
People born without the ability to feel pain might become aware that they are leaning of a hot stove burner only when they smell burning flesh, or they might not be aware of situations that could be life-threatening. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage . Scholz and woolf: distinguish three different types of pain: inflammatory pain: caused by damage to tissue or inflammation of joints by tumour cells, neuropathic pain: caused by lesions or other damage to the nervous system. Nociceptive pain is created by activation of nociceptors in the skin that respond to different types of stimulation. Signals from the nociceptors are transmitted to the spinal cord and then up the spinal cord in pathways that lead to the brain. However, cutting the nerves used to transmit signals from the limb to the brain still does not eliminate the phantom pain.
