front |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18 |19 |20 |21 |22 |23 |24 |review

This section of the lecture considers some of the theories of pain that have been influential and argues that contemporary theories are merely slight elaborations of theories proposed by Descartes over 300 years earlier. I have called these “Doorbell” theories because they conceptualize pain as a simple (or more complex) electrical circuit: someone presses the doorbell (stimulates a nociceptor) and elsewhere a bell rings (“pain” is experienced). Variations on these theories have involve comparative neuronal activity between A & C fibres, summation of neuronal activity, and more recently gate theories (which only allow the doorbell to work at certain times). While al these theories explain parts of the sensory aspect of pain, none explain all the features.