据美国趣味科学网站1月17日报道，有些人比其他人对疼痛的感觉更加强烈。对此，新的研究指出，痛觉敏感度的不同或许与大脑结构的差异有关。 Some people feel pain more intensely than others, and new research suggests differences in pain sensitivity may be related to differences in brain structure. 在一项新的研究中，有116名健康人的胳膊或腿上的一小块皮肤被加热至约49摄氏度。此时研究人员会让这些研究对象对自己感受到的疼痛强度做出评估。上述有关痛觉敏感度的测试进行几天后，这些研究对象的大脑接受了核磁共振成像仪器的扫描。 In a new study, the researchers asked 116 healthy people to rate the intensity of their pain when a small spot of skin on their arm or leg was heated to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. A few days after pain-sensitivity testing, participants had their brains scanned in an MRI machine. 报道称，扫描结果显示出了每个人的痛觉敏感度与其大脑中某些区域的皮质厚度之间的关系。而之前人们已发现这些区域与注意力控制和自我反省等脑部活动有关。这些区域的大脑皮质越薄，当事人对疼痛的刺激就越为敏感。 The results showed a link between an individual's sensitivity to pain, and the thickness of their brain's cortex, in regions that have previously been linked to attention control and introspection. The thinner the cortex in these areas, the more sensitive people were to painful stimuli. 上述研究的参与者、韦克福里斯特浸礼会医疗中心的研究生尼科尔·埃默森说：“对于疼痛强度评估结果较高的测试对象而言，其大脑中负责内省和注意力控制的区域含有的灰质较少。” "Subjects with higher pain intensity ratings had less gray matter in brain regions that contribute to internal thoughts and control of attention," said study researcher Nichole Emerson, a graduate student at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. 报道指出，了解疼痛感在大脑中的表现方式非常有必要，这有助于医学工作者为遭受慢性疼痛的患者制定出相应治疗方案。科学家们也在试图找出人们对疼痛反应各不相同的原因。 Understanding how the experience of pain is represented in the brain is essential for developing treatments for people suffering chronic pain, and scientists are looking for why people react differently to pain. 此前开展的一项研究最近发现，根据大脑结构存在的差异，可以预测出人们在受伤后是会痊愈还是会出现慢性疼痛。另一方面，研究人员已经发现，尽管只是暂时的，疼痛本身也能够改变大脑的结构。 A previous study recently found that structural differences in the brain predicted whether people healed after an injury or developed chronic pain. On the other hand, researchers have found that the pain itself can change the brain structure, albeit temporarily. 在新的研究中被研究人员认定与痛觉敏感度相关联的那部分脑区属于大脑区域网络的一部分。而当人们休息或做白日梦时，也就是处于“缺省模式”时，这一大脑区域就会被激活。 Brain areas that the new study identified as linked to pain sensitivity are part of a network of regions that become activated when people are resting or daydreaming, or in other words, are in "default mode." 研究人员表示，这可能就是在上述脑区灰质较少的人对疼痛更为敏感的原因。 That may be why people with less gray matter volume in these areas are more sensitive to pain, and vice versa, the researchers said. 韦克福里斯特浸礼会医疗中心神经生物学和解剖学教授罗伯特·科格希尔说：“处于缺省模式的活动或许与引发疼痛感的大脑活动相互对抗。”换言之，把更多时间用于“缺省模式”活动的人可能对疼痛不那么敏感。 "Default-mode activity may compete with brain activity that generates an experience of pain," said study researcher Robert Coghill, a professor of neurobiology and anatomy at Wake Forest Baptist. In other words, people who spend more time in "default mode" may be less sensitive to pain. 研究人员发现，与疼痛相关的其他脑区还包括后顶叶皮层。该区域被认为在注意力控制过程中发挥了重要作用。科格希尔说，那些最能集中注意力的人或许也能够很好地抑制自己的疼痛感。 Other areas the researchers found to be related to pain included the posterior parietal cortex, thought to play an important role in controlling attention. People who can best keep their attention focused may also be best at keeping pain under control, Coghill said. 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/846d5f7224c52cc58bd63186bceb19e8b8f6ec7d.html