Pain perception involves a complex, dynamic process. Research over the past several decades has indicated numerous factors that influence the modulation of pain perception in humans. Research also suggests that pain perception presents an intricate balance between a warning sign to protect the biological integrity of an organism and an adaptive process not to overtax the system. One such exampl...

The perception of unpleasant stimuli enhances whereas the perception of pleasant stimuli decreases pain perception. In contrast, the effects of pain on the processing of emotional stimuli are much less known. Especially given the recent interest in facial expressions of pain as a special category of emotional stimuli, a main topic in this research line is the mutual influence of pain and facial...

Psychological factors play a major role in exacerbating chronic pain. Effective self-management of pain is often hindered by inaccurate beliefs about the nature of pain which lead to a high degree of emotional reactivity. Probabilistic models of perception state that greater confidence (certainty) in beliefs increases their influence on perception and behavior. In this study, we treat confidenc...

OBJECTIVE Several studies have shown reduced pain perception in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and current self-injurious behavior (SIB). The aim of the present study was to test whether pain perception in patients with current SIB is different from that of patients who had stopped SIB, and whether pain perception of the latter group differs from healthy controls (HC). ME...

It has been reported that neurons in the VL PAG projecting to nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) utilize excitatory amino acids as neurotransmitter. This projection plays an important role in the descending pain modulatory system. In order to determine the role of this pathway in pain perception, male rats received unilateral injection of ibotenic acid stereotaxically. For lesioning VL PAG, unilateral ...

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the deliberate destruction of one's own body tissue in the absence of suicidal intent (e.g., cutting or burning the skin). Previous studies have found that people with a history of NSSI display diminished pain perception. However, it remains unclear why this effect occurs. In the present study, we used a sample of participants with (n = 25) and without (n = 47)...