Pain researchers have found that the experience of pain is heavily shaped by context, expectation, and meaning. The same injury can feel devastating in one situation and barely noticeable in another — soldiers wounded in battle, for instance, often report feeling little pain at the moment of injury, because the wound means they will be evacuated from the front lines.

Hidden Brain

@underscoredpodcasts

perceptionpainneuroscience

Pain depends not just on the signals traveling from the body to the brain, but also on what the brain expects to feel. When the brain anticipates pain, it can amplify those signals — and when it doesn't, the very same injury can feel far less intense.

Hidden Brain

@underscoredpodcasts

neurosciencepainperception

It made no sense: why couldn't she eat something that she had routinely enjoyed for decades?

Radiolab

@underscoredpodcasts

neurosciencememoryhabit-formation