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Last updated: Sun, Mar 9, 2025
When behavioral scientists use the term “affect,” they may mean very simply whether something is pleasant or unpleasant, attractive or repellent, rewarding or punishing.1 This meaning comes from the tradition of behavioral research, in which only what can be observed is suitable grist for scientific work. It is believed as a general proposition that punishment (negative affect) inhibits or displaces reward (positive affect). Motivation similarly is the tendency to pursue or avoid.
Affect and motivation are of course quite important functions of the nervous system. This is true of you and your mother as much as it is of a garden mouse, although your (and your mother's) affects and motivations are presumably more complex and your system for regulating them more complex. Sorting out affect is a major function of your limbic system, which as we've seen is central in your pain network. This perspective makes pain seem more an emotion than a sensation. Your pain status can be a very important determinant of behavior. Your nervous system's job is to choose which of conflicting motivations to respond to.
The suppression of pain that can occur at the time of an injury is an example of the active functioning of the nervous system. Pain, because it signals actual or potential injury, is always important, but may not be the most important thing at the time of injury. In the long period of secondary pain following a deep-tissue injury, the tenderness and inclination to rest will surely conflict with other motivations. Hunger, thirst, the need to socialize, even the need to move, are just a few of the motivations that may conflict with the motivation to rest. Studies of animals have allowed researchers to observe the descending modulatory system kicking in to reduce pain while the animal subject pursues their non-pain motivations. Such studies suggest that an important role of the pain modulatory systems is to suppress pain temporarily so that other needs of the organism can be met.2