AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -2 When you bang your shin on a chair or table, for example, you might rub the injured spot. The increase in normal touch sensory information helps inhibit pain fiber activity, therefore reducing pain perception. Prior to gate control theory, scientists had other theories on pain.

Detailed explanation-2: -For example, if you touch a hot stove, you probably assume that the nerves in the skin feel how hot the stove is and signals are sent to the brain to trigger a feeling of pain. Research shows, though, that pain signaling, as well as the sensations the body perceives as pain, can be more complex than this scenario.

Detailed explanation-3: -If the gates are more open, then a lot of pain messages pass through to the brain and you are likely to experience a high level of pain. If the gates are more closed, then fewer messages get through and you are likely to experience less pain.

Detailed explanation-4: -The four most influential theories of pain perception include the Specificity (or Labeled Line), Intensity, Pattern, and Gate Control Theories of Pain (Fig. 1). The Specificity Theory refers to the presence of dedicated pathways for each somatosensory modality.

Detailed explanation-5: -The first and best known of these theories is gate control theory, in which the cold causes stimulation of A afferent nerve fibers, which in turn inhibit transmission of pain to second-order neurons through gating at the substantia gelatinosa in the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal cord.