Touch and Pain

Question 1

pain

Answer 1

unpleasant sensory & emotional experience

- serves to protect us

Question 2

interoception

Answer 2

provide brain info about our own body

• hunger, thirst, temperature, pain
• representation of “the material me”
• foundation of feelings, emotion, and self awareness

Question 3

exteroception

Answer 3

sense of the external world, of all stimulation originating from outside our own body

Question 4

somatosensory receptors send info to CNS using 4 methods

Answer 4

1. cutaneous sense (senses of skin)
2. proprioception (body position)
3. Kinesthesis (body movement)
4. nociception (pain, discomfort)

Question 5

transduction

Answer 5

converting physical energy into neural energy

Question 6

three main groups of receptors

Answer 6

1. mechanoreceptors (stroking, stretching, vibration of skin)
2. thermoreceptors (responding to cold/hot temp)
3. chemoreceptors (responding to certain types of chemicals)

Question 7

nociceptors

Answer 7

fire specifically to potentially tissue-damaging stimuli

Question 8

A-fibres

Answer 8

fast conducting sensory nerves with myelinated axons

- project senses to somatosensory cortex

Question 9

C-pain or A-fibres

Answer 9

convey noxious, thermal, heat signals

Question 10

touch

Answer 10

crucial for human development

- decreases stress hormone

Question 11

c-fibres

Answer 11

respond to genetic touch

Question 12

c-tactile fibres

Answer 12

convey gentle touch, light stroking

Question 13

social touch hypothesis

Answer 13

proposes that C-tactile fibres form a system for touch perception that supports social bonding

Question 14

motivation-decision model

Answer 14

brain automatically & continuously evaluates pros and cons of any situation

Question 15

descending pain and modulating system

Answer 15

top down system involving several parts of the brainstem

- inhibits nociceptive signalling so that the more important actions can be attended to

Question 16

endorphin

Answer 16

endogenous morphine - like peptide that binds to the opioid receptors in the brain and body; synthesized in the body’s nervous system

• used to cope with pain and stress
• “feel good chemicals”

Question 17

allodynia

Answer 17

pain due to stimulus that does not normally provoke pain

ex: when a light stroking is painful

Question 18

noxious stimulus

Answer 18

stimulus that is damaging/threatning to tissues

- vital protective function

Question 19

chronic pain

Answer 19

persistent/recurrent pain, beyond usual course of acute illness or injury

• often begin w an injury to peripheral nerve or tissue
• releases hormones & inflammatory molecules

Question 20

sensitization

Answer 20

occurs when response to stimulus increases w exposure

Question 21

power of the mind

Answer 21

the mind has power to change perception of pain and touch