TMA03

Student name: ALEXANDRA BAKATSELOU Draft:

Personal identifier: E 6 3 4 7 1 2 6 Final:
Date: 1 8 0 1 1 8

Question 1.

 Neuron at rest

 Voltage - sensitive Na+channels open

 Na+ move into neuron

 Voltage – sensitive Na+ channels close

 Voltage – sensitive K+ channels open

 K+ move out of the neuron

 Voltage – sensitive K+ channels close

 A sodium potasium pump restores the ion distrubution on either side of the membrane to
the distrubution found at rest
QUESTION 2.
a.
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PROMPT criteria Resource 1 Resource 2

Reference/link https://www.nhs.uk/news/ne https://www-nexis-

urology/religious-belief-
and-pain-relief/
Presentation For NHS staff and the
How is the information structured and general public
presented? Who is it meant for?
com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/a
uth/bridge.do?
rand=0.5779094938524305
For the general public

Is it communicated clearly in the right sort of

language for its purpose?

Relevance The information is mainly about The information is mainly in

What is the information mainly about? Look a study in pain conducted by how religious imagery and
at the introduction or overview – does it cover Katja Wiech and beliefs can make someone
colleagues from the
what you need to know? withstand pain.
Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge. It is in the right
Is it at the right level? Is it too specialised, or level to be understood by NHS
not specialised enough? staff and the general public.

Objectivity The article language is The article is biased that

Is the author’s position of interest made clear? neutral like in any scientific faith in God eases pain.
Is the article biased, or motivated by a publishing.
particular opinion or agenda?

Is the language emotive? Are there any

hidden, vested interests? What may they be
trying to sell?

Method (for research reports only) The data was collected No reference given to the
Is it clear how the data was collected? from 24 participants, 12 research report besides that
Is the sample size (the number of subjects Catholic and 12 atheists- watching holy images makes
involved in the study) really representative? agnostic and the sample size you able to withstand pain.
is not really
Were the methods used appropriate? Do you representative.The methods
trust them? used could have led the
Catholics believing that
watching a photo of Virgin
Mary made them withstand
the pain.
ProvenanceIs it clear where the information Full references given to the No references to the study
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 has come from? Can you identify the primary research report. given or the experiment ,no
author(s) or organisation(s)? publication given. It is an
What sort of publication is it? Is it a primary opinion article.
research report, or a review or an opinion
article? Is it peer-reviewed?

Does the article provide citations and

references that lead to further reading to back
up the claims, and are they trustworthy
sources?

Timeliness It was written in 2008 and It was written September 29

How up-to-date is the material? Is it clear still relevant. 2008 and is still relevant.
when it was written?

Does the date of the information meet your

requirements, or is it obsolete (opinions and
understanding may have changed)?

b. The subjects of the experiment was 12 practising Catholics and 12 non religious – agnostic- atheists.The
subjects of the study were told the aim of the study was to review wether pain experience differ viewing different
content but not told the aim was to investigate the effect of religious belief.The researchers found that both
groups's experience of pain was not significantly different.However Catholics reported less pain when presented
with an image of Virgin Mary than presented with an image of non religious content. Non- believers rated the
experience as equally intent with relious and non religious content images.

Ratings of mood were different for each group.The Catholic group reported more positive mood when presented
with an image of Virgin Mary.The non-believers group reported more positive mood when presented with an
image of non religious content. In the Catholic group the positive mood led to less pain but not on the
unbelievers group. Addionally the Catholic group coped with pain better with the image of the Virgin Mary more
than an image of non religious content.The agnostic coped well with both images.

The MRI scans showed that both groups showed activation of brain areas involved with pain processing and
there was no difference in both groups.However the Catholic group when presented with an image of the Virgin
Mary showed more activity at the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in a part of the brain researchers had
hypothisised has an effect on pain modulation. The agnostic or non-believers although they rated the non
religious image preferred by them presentation of the image was not associated with the right ventrolateral
prefrontal cortex and an increased activation of this brain area.

The researchers concluded that a religious content image enabled the believers group to reduce how painful a
pain stimulus can be and this effect is regulated by specific brain processes.

The NHS article was more consice,clear and coherent than the second article. In the NHS article you find a full
account of the experiment and its results with a link to the original paper, whereas on the other article you find
biased information concluding that the religious images are linked with faith in God who eases pain.370

Question 3.

Describe the evidence that shows pain perception is not entirely dependent on physical injury.

 Introduction:Pain is not just a message from damaged tissue, is a complex experience experienced by
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 the brain. What is pain perception and what is physical injury.

 Paragraph:Description of the pain pathways and the specific biological mechanisms that allow pain
perception to be gated.

 Paragraph: Example of factors that can “gate” pain perception

 Paragraph: Examples of situations where pain perception is less than might be expected from the extent
of a physical injury

 Paragraph: Examples of situations where pain perception is greater than might be expected from the
extent of a physical injury

 Paragraph: Examples of situations where pain is perceived when there is no physical injury.

 Paragraph:Examples of situations where the site of injury and the site of perceived pain differ

 Conclusion

Question 4.

Describe the evidence that shows pain perception is not entirely dependent on physical injury.

Pain is an experience complex and not just a message, thoroughly tuned by our brains. The nervous system
detects a wide range of stimuli.When intense stimuli occur generate acute pain and in the setting of an injury
both peripheral and central nervous system components of pain transmission pathway produce
hypersensitivity.Noiception is the process in which a stimuli is being detected by peripheral nerve fibers, called
nociceptors. Pain perception is 羨 n unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or
potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.�(IASP, 2007).Physical injury is a damage
inflicted on the body by an external force.

When a nociceptor detects a noxious stimuli it produces an action potential. Nociceptors have their axon
terminals in the spinal cord, were they form a synapse with a transmission cell. The nociceptor fires an action
potential in response to noxious stimuli it excites the transmission cell by releasing gluttamate.When
glutamate binds to the transmission cell it creates an EPSP sending information to the thalamus of the
brain.From here it reaches the spinothalamic pathway. Activity in the spinothalamic pathway underlies
our conscious perception of pain.Therefore a noxious stimuli that causes an action potential to the
transmission cell can result in pain being perceived. PAG exites spinal interneurons which inhibit the
transmission cells while releasing GABA and enkephalin gating the pain.The enkephalin produced by
the neuron also acts to block glutamate from the nociceptor. These two inhibitory effects of
interneurons prevent action potentials so the signal does not reach the brain and no pain is being
perceived.

Examples of factors that can gate pain perception are cognition and by touch neurons.Cognition
involves our emotional health being. Feeling anxious or depressed can gate pain perception.The
extend of the pain felt is largely depanding on the invidual.Touch neurons release glutamate to excite
the spinal interneurons that act as a gate to pain. Thus rubbing the affected area until the pain
subsides reduces pain and closes the gate.

Examples of situations where pain perception is less than might be expected from the extent of a physical injury
can be found in stories of soldies in battlefields that had withstand serious injuries, however they felt no pain until
brought to safety.Therefore the gate was closed during in the battlefield and it opened when brought to
safety.Other example is in an instance of a major trauma such a motor vehicle accident when patients exhibit a
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painless state despite of the severe trauma.

Examples of situations where pain perception is greater than might be expected from the extent of a physical
injury is in the case of a stubbed toe,cutting, pinching, intense warming of the skin,exposure to cold or exposure
to noxious chemicals.This happens because noiception opens the gate.

Examples of situations where pain is perceived when there is no physical injury is the cases of phantom
sensations.Painful phantom sensations are commonly experienced in regions that have been amputated either
surgically or in accidents. This occurrence affects 60-70% of amputees.One reason for the persistent pain from
the missing body regions is that the brain appears to have a “map” of the body, even in people who are born
without a limp. Phantom pain arises from a number of interacting factors. Firstly it may arise through a process
called plasticity.when neurons experience change in connections. The transmission cell can become
hypersensitive so it generates action potentials spontaneously, when the normal nociceptor signal to the
transmission cell is no longer received.These are transmitted to the brain as nociception and it can trigger
pain.Now deprived of their normal inputs transmission cells create new synapses with other neurons which
acquire the capacity to excite the transmission cells triggering pain. The regions of the brain responsible for pain
processing become hypersensitive and can fire action potentials without any input triggering pain.Thus
amputees may feel pain on an amputated limb.

Examples of situations where the site of injury and the site of perceived pain differ or referred pain is brain freeze
when you are eating ice-cream a short lived pain around the eyes and the foehead,the pain triggered by tissue
damage in the heart during a heart attack can be referred to the left shoulder and arm or a stone found in the
kidneys can be pain perceived in the genitals.Pain referrals are not disorganized but follow certain patterns
related to how the nervous system has developed. Nociceptor nerve endings also exist in the internal organs of
the body for the detection of visceral pain. Both types of nociceptor can form a link, a synapse with the same
transmission cell in the spinal cord.When the information reaches the brain,the brain can't tell wether is damage
detected on the skin or an internal organ.

In conclusion pain perception is not entirely dependent on physical injury.This is more evident with referred pain
were both types of nociceptor can form a synapse with the same transmission cell in the spinal cord, confusing
the brain wether the damage detected is on the skin or an internal organ,meaning that is not entirely dependent
on physical injury.Another example is people involved in car accidents with major trauma reporting a painless
state.On these ocassions the pain perception is not entirely dependent on physical damage.905

Question 5.

I didn't deviate on the sceleton of the essay and there where no diffirences in terms of scientific content between
my plan and my final essay.I found it harder to write a conclusion and to give examples of situations where pain
perception is greater than might be expected from the extent of a physical injury.I need better planning in my
essay writing in the future. 68

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