Sensory Experience- Exploring Touch and its Importance in Perception
Pain can be defined as a feeling of discomfort usually caused by stimuli arising from tissue damage. According to Yam et al. (2018), pain is a body’s defense mechanism against the stimulus that mostly arises from our surroundings. The pain can either be acute or chronic, and only the sufferer can describe its intensity. Acute pain occurs immediately after an injury and is self-limiting most of the time. On the other hand, chronic pain is long-standing and usually has no physiologic benefit (Gadhvi & Waseem, 2021). Transmission of pain occurs through the A-delta fibers and the C fibers. The A-delta fibers are associated with stabbing and sharp pain, while the C fibers are associated with diffuse, dull, and poorly localized pain. Pain transmission is usually through the descending and ascending tracts.
The ascending pathway sends the sensory signal from the point of stimulus to the brain through the spinal cord, while the descending pathway sends the sensory feedback processed in the brain back to the body through the spinal cord. In the ascending pathway, afferent fibers send stimulus to the posterior horn neurons in the spinal cord (Yam et al., 2018). As a result, the posterior horn neurons transmit the signal through the spinothalamic tract to the thalamic somatosensory cortex. When the stimulus reaches the periaqueductal gray and the rostral ventral medulla neurons, feedback is sent back to the organs responsible for the body’s reflex through the descending pathway (Yam et al., 2018). Generally, pain perception can occur in three stages: sensitivity, the transmission of the signal to the posterior horn neurons in the spinal cord, and, lastly, signal transmission to the brain through the spinal cord. According to Gadhvi & Waseem (2021), pain is a physiological process essential for human existence. The pain alerts the body that something is wrong, and the body, in turn, responds to the stimulus.
References
Gadhvi M, Waseem M. Physiology, Sensory System. [Updated 2021 May 9]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547656
Yam, M. F., Loh, Y. C., Tan, C. S., Khadijah Adam, S., Abdul Manan, N., & Basir, R. (2018). General pathways of pain sensation and the major neurotransmitters involved in pain regulation. International journal of molecular sciences, 19(8), 2164. https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/8/2164
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Question 
Anatomy and Physiology 1
Think of a specific sensation that you might notice on a part of your body. Write about this sensation and discuss how you feel this sensation.
Sensory Experience- Exploring Touch and its Importance in Perception
Then, trace the probable sensory pathway. Why is it important that you can feel this sensation?