Expectation Matters in Neuroplastic Pain
posted 13th January 2022
Your brain continually generates models of the world around it in order to predict the most plausible explanation for what's happening in each moment.
It tries to have a pre-prepared framework ready to predict danger. All the processes in the brain are geared to detect danger like an alarm system. It keeps learning by adapting and firing and wiring new circuits together.
All parts of the brain are active in learning about danger and protecting you, so that it can predict better the next time it perceives danger.
This process is called predictive coding.
Predictive coding accounts for most of what is going on in your brain at any given point in time.
What we perceive depends heavily upon the predictions of our brain, which reflects what our brains already know about the world through knowledge and previous personal experiences.
These predictions not only precede our sensations, but they also determine them.
Your vision is determined by your visual cortex and not your retina Your taste is determined by your primary gustatory cortex rather than your tongue. Your hearing is determined by your auditory cortex and not your ears.
Your brain creates every sensory experience that you have including neuroplastic pain.
Neuroplastic pain occurs because our brains are not perfect and can misinterpret safe situations as dangerous. Our brains can also make mistakes in the way that they process sensory information.
Our brain sometimes get it wrong, and this discrepancy is the cause of neuroplastic pain. If you suffer from chronic neuroplastic pain, harmless bodily sensations can illicit, anticipate and create fear of pain resulting in a range of maladaptive responses.