Chapter 17: Social Communication and Modulation of Pain

pain

recognized to be a complex perception of unpleasant stimuli that has sensory-discriminative, cognitive-evaluative, and motivation-affective components

nociception

the perception of noxious stimuli

begins with nociceptors that transmit electrical signals along the neuroxis to the brain

typically initiated in the periphery and transmitted centrally to the brain

biological targets

receptors, neurochemicals, anatomical structures

for the detection of pain have been a heavy focus for research and treatment, but for pain, especially chronic pain, tissue damage is a poor predictor of whether an injury will heal or turn into a chronic problem

social determinants

conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age and the forces, systems, policies, and social norms that shape daily life

affect an individual’s behavior and their experience of pain

affective expressions

like a facial grimace or calling out by mammals due to pain serve to externally communicate that individual’s pain to others who then perceive the behavioral signal and react

exteroceptive

sensing stimuli outside of the body

interoceptive

a type of stimulus that comes from within the body, possibly as a result of changes in homeostasis to various bodily systems

perception of pain

has both exteroceptive and interoceptive sensory elements because pain integrates the sensing of internal stimuli with the affective and motivational state in the body

empathy

the perception and then sharing of affective states of others

also has interoceptive and exteroceptive elements due to the sensing of external stimuli and matching or modulation of affective and motivational state

social dynamic framework

a means of examining behavior through consideration and analysis of social interactions

social context

the immediate physical and social setting

consolation

the physical and/or psychological comfort given to someone after a loss or injury

biopsychosocial model

a model that incorporates the connection between biology, psychology, and sociological factors to understand behaviors or disease

increased activity levels in chronic pain patients

the punishment scale on the WHYMPI was associated with

continuity of pain behavior and communication

verbal cues, rubbing a limb, and facial expressions all signal pain in humans, but many other mammals express some of these same gestures

mirroring

mimicking, matching or replicating

for a gesture, posture, or vocal cue of the observed individual, shown to increase rapport in both humans and other animals

emotional contagion

the phenomenon of affective state and the associated expressions being triggered by subconsciously observing that state in others; for example, when you see someone smile, without realizing it you may also smile and are in a pleasant mood

mirror systems

consists of a class of neurons in the premotor and posterior parietal cortices that are appropriately referred to as mirror neurons

activation of this allows observers to not only understand and respond to movements from those around us, but mirror neurons give us the ability to understand the affective expressions and complex behaviors

salience network

a large brain network involved in detection and filtering salient stimuli

anterior insula and rostral cingulate cortex

when observing pain in another individual, if the source of the pain is not known, affective motivation regions including the _______ are activated when perceiving that another person is experiencing pain

affective motivation regions are activated when perceiving that another person is experiencing pain

empathy

when two mice are together in an arena, and the pain behavior of one mouse increases the pain behavior of the other mouse, this is used a model of _______ in rodents.

endogenous system

releases protein signals to decrease signaling between neurons to diminish the experience of pain

social buffering

a phenomenon where the presence and availability of one or more social partners during times of threat reduces activity of stress-mediating physiological systems

corticosterone

a cholesterol-based steroid produced by the adrenal gland during stress, as the rodent equivalent of cortisol in humans