Pain Perception (Top-Down Influence)

As you learned from the pain lecture, top-down influences are huge in determining our perception of pain. For example, you learned that individual differences (e.g. being raised in a physically intense environment such as Nepal), being distracted (including both the content of distraction), shifting attention (and the extent of how much the shift of attention), expectation of the amount of pain to be received, and the emotion we are in when we feel pain are all ways that our perception of pain can become reduced or increased.

For this discussion, you will need to think about a time in your life when pain was influenced in one of these ways. Then, you will need to compare it to the specific study or example discussed in the lecture.

Your Discussion:

1. Explain a time in your life when a top-down factor influenced your perception of a painful experience.

2. Identify what type of top-down influence this was, and how it may have affected your pain perception (e.g. was your pain less or more)?

3. Which specific example, or specific study, from the lecture relates MOST to your personal experience? In other words, what is your personal experience most similar to from the studies and examples discussed in the lecture. Be specific and explain why.