Abstract

Pain has been defined as a conscious experience, an interpretation of the nociceptive input influenced by multiple components, including sensory-discriminative, affective-dimensional, and cognitive-evaluative. Pain asymbolia, one of neuropsychological disorders, is a condition in which pain is perceived, but does not cause suffering. We would like to explain the pain asymbolia from the perspective of neuropsychology. The current review summarized the existing brain lesion evidence for the anatomical basis of pain asymbolia. The somatosensory cortices are more involved in the perception of sensory features, whereas limbic and paralimbic regions, such as anterior cingulate cortex and insula, are associated with the emotional and motivational aspects of pain. The understanding of the neural substrates of pain processing and the neurological characteristics of pain asymbolia would help us to identify the putative anatomical basis of the neuropsychological disorder. (Korean J Str Res 2011;19:267∼271)

• Keywords: Pain asymbolia, Empathy, Brain, Neuroimaging, Neuropsychology