Abstract
After entering the Central Nervous System (CNS) from the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS), pain information takes on an ascending path (lateral system and medial system) to be relayed at the thalamus and projected to the upper region of the CNS. Although the local ization of functions in the CNS has been described in the works of Broadman and Penfield, central pain modulation and recognition system were unclear until the recent advancement in imaging technology such as the fMRI (functional MRI imaging) which enabled the visual ization of the regions of brain activation in response to pain. In the present study, we focused primarily on the thalamus, cerebral cortex, amygdaloid body, anterior cingulate gyrus, nu cleus accumbens and hippocampus. We were able to locate the region of the brain at which pain is recognized, as well as the region at which emotional response to pain is established.
