Brain scans show how pain is like

WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse

The signals in the brain are transferable across different people.

Scientists said on April 10 they have figured out how to recognize pain in brain scans, possibly paving the way for future tests that could accurately gauge its severity. “Right now, there’s no clinically acceptable way to measure pain and other emotions other than to ask a person how they feel,” said Tor Wager, lead author of the paper.

Magnetic resonance imaging brain scans were performed on 114 volunteers. They were surprised to find that the signals in the brain were transferable across different people, allowing scientists to predict how much pain a person was feeling with 90-100 percent accuracy.