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Author Spotlight: Quantifying Pain Experience – An Illustrative Approach Using the Pain Body Diagram
Published on: July 7, 2023
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The parietal cortex and pain perception: a body protection system
Alberto Gallace1, Valeria Bellan2
1Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
Handbook of Clinical Neurology
|March 10, 2018
Summary
Understanding pain involves integrating multisensory information, with the parietal cortex crucial for processing. This neurocognitive approach may improve future pain treatments.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Pain Research
Background:
- Pain perception is vital for survival but complex.
- Recent research views pain through neurocognitive and neuropsychological lenses, revealing links to other cognitive functions.
- Pain's multicomponential nature necessitates a multisensory framework for understanding.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the neurocognitive underpinnings of pain perception.
- To highlight the role of multisensory integration in pain.
- To investigate the contribution of the parietal cortex to pain processing.
Main Methods:
- Review of extant neurocognitive and neuropsychological research on pain.
- Analysis of studies examining multisensory integration in pain perception.
- Focus on neuroimaging and behavioral studies implicating the parietal cortex.
Main Results:
- Pain perception is influenced by concurrent sensory information.
- The parietal cortex is significantly involved in integrating multisensory inputs for pain.
- Parietal cortex functions include supporting body ownership, spatial attention, and awareness in pain.
Conclusions:
- A multisensory approach is essential for comprehending pain and its neural basis.
- The parietal cortex is a key brain region for integrating sensory information relevant to pain.
- Neurocognitive insights into pain processing, particularly involving the parietal cortex, hold promise for developing improved pain management strategies.
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