Pain suffering and the self. An active allostatic inference explanation

dc.contributor.authorGerrans, P.
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractDistributed processing that gives rise to pain experience is anchored by a multidimensional self-model. I show how the phenomenon of pain asymbolia and other atypical pain-related conditions (Insensitivity to Pain, Chronic Pain, 'Social' Pain, Insensitivity to Pain, Chronic Pain, 'Social' Pain, empathy for pain and suffering) can be explained by this idea. It also explains the patterns of association and dissociation among neural correlates without importing strong modular assumptions. It treats pain processing as a species of allostatic active inference in which the mind co-ordinates its processing resources to optimize basic bodily functioning at different time scales. The self is inferred to be source and target of regulation in this process. The self-modelling account reconciles conflicting deaffectualization and depersonalization accounts of pain asymbolia by showing how depersonalization and pain asymbolia arise at different levels of hierarchical self modelling.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityPhilip Gerrans
dc.identifier.citationNeuroscience of Consciousness, 2024; 2024(1):niae002-niae002
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/nc/niae002
dc.identifier.issn2057-2107
dc.identifier.issn2057-2107
dc.identifier.orcidGerrans, P. [0000-0002-1755-8727]
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2440/142151
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherOxford University Press
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP180101323
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
dc.source.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nc/niae002
dc.subjectactive inference
dc.subjectaffect
dc.subjectAllostasis
dc.subjectpain asymbolia
dc.subjectpain disorders
dc.subjectself model
dc.titlePain suffering and the self. An active allostatic inference explanation
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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