Expertise Modulates Students ’ Perception of Pain From a Self-Perspective: Quasi-Experimental Study

Conclusions: Virtual dental treatment activates pain-related brain regions in controls. By contrast, dental students suppress affective and motor-related aspects of pain. We speculate that dental students learn to control motoric aspects of pain perception during their education because it is a prerequisite for the professional manual treatment of patients. We discuss that a specific set of learning mechanisms might affect perceived self-efficacy of dental students, which in turn might reduce their affective component of pain perception.
Source: Journal of Medical Internet Research - Category: General Medicine Authors: Source Type: research