ABSTRACT
A primary function of pain is to guide behavior that helps the organism avoid injury. This implies a tight coupling between the neural systems underlying pain perception and those underlying action controls. Several studies have shown that self-administration of a painful stimulus, relative to administration of the same stimulus by external means, reduces perceived pain intensity and unpleasantness and modulates pain-related processing in the anterior cingulate cortex the primary somatosensory and the posterior insula and prefrontal cortex. Motor control models predict that sensory reafference is suppressed only to the extent that it is a directly predictable consequence of the motor command. Acute pain typically signals bodily harm, or the imminent threat of such harm. For this reason, efficient perception of painful stimuli and appropriate responses to pain are vital to an organism’s well-being. In the short term, pain stimulates actions such as avoidance and withdrawal from the source of pain, when this is possible.
