Cerebral Activity in the Perception of Visceral Pain.

Specific patterns of cerebral activity have recently been identified in relation to acute and chronic visceral pain experiences in humans. Activity may occur in a brain region as a consequence of receiving and processing neurally encoded information perceived to be arising from the viscera. (This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, information actually arising from the viscera.) Observed cerebral activity may also represent the mobilization and output of instructions emanating from the cerebrum, which helps create and respond to visceral events. Functional neuroanatomy underlying the transmission of both kinds of neuronally encoded information is outlined. Recent research and ideas on cerebral activity associated with visceral pain perceived to be arising from within the abdomen, chest, or pelvis are considered. Finally, the relationships of pain perception and cerebral activity to depression, autonomic function, and sex are discussed.