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Mechanisms of Pain

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Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics B

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Abstract

No one can deny that pain serves as an alarm. Sometimes pain informs us about severe abnormalities inside our body. However, pain (in particular, chronic pain) does not always have the role of an alarm. Pain itself can be harmful, as in the case of patients with chronic pain. Thus, we should reveal the mechanisms of pain and control it even though this is a challenging task. Pain is always subjective to individuals, and we have no definitive and objective evaluation methods for measuring pain. Indeed, pain is very complex and difficult to understand. In this chapter, in order to better understand the complex phenomenon of pain, I first discuss the definitions and classifications of pain. Second, I explain methods for evaluating pain, including the methods of potential objective evaluation. Lastly, I describe the relationship between pain and the central nervous system, especially with respect to cognitive function, emotion, and psychiatric illness. I expect that there will be a paradigm shift in pain treatment in the future; studies of the affective components of pain will greatly progress, and drug discovery research will specifically aim at reducing pain.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

    Aya Nakae

Authors
  1. Aya Nakae
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Correspondence to Aya Nakae .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Masashi Kasaki

  2. Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Hiroshi Ishiguro

  3. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Minoru Asada

  4. Division of Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics, Institute for Academic Initiatives, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Mariko Osaka

  5. Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Takashi Fujikado

Exercises

Exercises

  1. 1.

    The figures below show the waveforms of evoked potentials .

    What are the latency and amplitude of each evoked potential?

    What fibers are stimulated?

    figure a
    figure b
  2. 2.

    State the correlation between pain perception and cognitive impairment.

  3. 3.

    State the correlation between emotion and pain perception.

  4. 4.

    What do you think about the next generation of analgesics?

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Nakae, A. (2016). Mechanisms of Pain. In: Kasaki, M., Ishiguro, H., Asada, M., Osaka, M., Fujikado, T. (eds) Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics B. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54598-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54598-9_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-54597-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-54598-9

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