The Consciousness of Pain: A Thalamocortical Perspective
Deep, dreamless sleep is considered the only “normal” state under which consciousness is lost. The main reason for the voluntary, external induction of an unconscious state, via general anesthesia, is to silence the brain circuitry of nociception. In this article, I describe the perception of pain a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-05-01
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| Series: | NeuroSci |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4087/3/2/22 |
| _version_ | 1797483719836041216 |
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| author | Paraskevi Sgourdou |
| author_facet | Paraskevi Sgourdou |
| author_sort | Paraskevi Sgourdou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Deep, dreamless sleep is considered the only “normal” state under which consciousness is lost. The main reason for the voluntary, external induction of an unconscious state, via general anesthesia, is to silence the brain circuitry of nociception. In this article, I describe the perception of pain as a neural and behavioral correlate of consciousness. I briefly mention the brain areas and parameters that are connected to the presence of consciousness, mainly by virtue of their absence under deep anesthesia, and parallel those to brain areas responsible for the perception of pain. Activity in certain parts of the cortex and thalamus, and the interaction between them, will be the main focus of discussion as they represent a common ground that connects our general conscious state and our ability to sense the environment around us, including the painful stimuli. A plethora of correlative and causal evidence has been described thus far to explain the brain’s involvement in consciousness and nociception. Despite the great advancement in our current knowledge, the manifestation and true nature of the perception of pain, or any conscious experience, are far from being fully understood. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:51:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-25f97bd059c241e9831070736ba15963 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-4087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:51:04Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NeuroSci |
| spelling | doaj.art-25f97bd059c241e9831070736ba159632023-11-23T18:19:02ZengMDPI AGNeuroSci2673-40872022-05-013231132010.3390/neurosci3020022The Consciousness of Pain: A Thalamocortical PerspectiveParaskevi Sgourdou0Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3700 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USADeep, dreamless sleep is considered the only “normal” state under which consciousness is lost. The main reason for the voluntary, external induction of an unconscious state, via general anesthesia, is to silence the brain circuitry of nociception. In this article, I describe the perception of pain as a neural and behavioral correlate of consciousness. I briefly mention the brain areas and parameters that are connected to the presence of consciousness, mainly by virtue of their absence under deep anesthesia, and parallel those to brain areas responsible for the perception of pain. Activity in certain parts of the cortex and thalamus, and the interaction between them, will be the main focus of discussion as they represent a common ground that connects our general conscious state and our ability to sense the environment around us, including the painful stimuli. A plethora of correlative and causal evidence has been described thus far to explain the brain’s involvement in consciousness and nociception. Despite the great advancement in our current knowledge, the manifestation and true nature of the perception of pain, or any conscious experience, are far from being fully understood.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4087/3/2/22consciousnesspainanesthesiathalamuscortex |
| spellingShingle | Paraskevi Sgourdou The Consciousness of Pain: A Thalamocortical Perspective NeuroSci consciousness pain anesthesia thalamus cortex |
| title | The Consciousness of Pain: A Thalamocortical Perspective |
| title_full | The Consciousness of Pain: A Thalamocortical Perspective |
| title_fullStr | The Consciousness of Pain: A Thalamocortical Perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Consciousness of Pain: A Thalamocortical Perspective |
| title_short | The Consciousness of Pain: A Thalamocortical Perspective |
| title_sort | consciousness of pain a thalamocortical perspective |
| topic | consciousness pain anesthesia thalamus cortex |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4087/3/2/22 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT paraskevisgourdou theconsciousnessofpainathalamocorticalperspective AT paraskevisgourdou consciousnessofpainathalamocorticalperspective |