Discriminating neural representations of physical and social pains: how multivariate statistics challenge the "shared representation" theory of pain.

Overlapping functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity elicited by physical pain and social rejection has posited a common neural representation between the two experiences. However, Woo and colleagues (Nat Commun 5: 5380, 2014) recently used multivariate statistics to challenge the "shared representation" theory of pain. This study has implications in the way results from fMRI studies are interpreted and has the potential of broadening our understanding of different pain states and future development of personalized medicine.