Behavioral responses to noxious stimuli shape the perception of pain.
Sci Rep
; 7: 44083, 2017 03 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28276487
ABSTRACT
Pain serves vital protective functions. To fulfill these functions, a noxious stimulus might induce a percept which, in turn, induces a behavioral response. Here, we investigated an alternative view in which behavioral responses do not exclusively depend on but themselves shape perception. We tested this hypothesis in an experiment in which healthy human subjects performed a reaction time task and provided perceptual ratings of noxious and tactile stimuli. A multi-level moderated mediation analysis revealed that behavioral responses are significantly involved in the translation of a stimulus into perception. This involvement was significantly stronger for noxious than for tactile stimuli. These findings show that the influence of behavioral responses on perception is particularly strong for pain which likely reflects the utmost relevance of behavioral responses to protect the body. These observations parallel recent concepts of emotions and entail implications for the understanding and treatment of pain.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Dor
/
Tato
/
Percepção da Dor
Limite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article