Pain and Decision-Making: Interrelated Through Homeostasis

Pain is a multidimensional experience that motivates organisms to engage in behavioral repertoire to deal with potential life-threatening situations that are a threat to homeostatic function. The aim of this mini-review was to highlight the nature of pain, the role that pain has as a motivational drive to impact higher-order cognitive processes, such as decision making, and how these processes are intimately integrated with homeostatic mechanisms.

Both conceptual and neurobiological overlap suggest a close interaction of decision-making, pain, and homeostasis. Pain, decision-making and homeostasis are interconnected through a common denominator of survival and must be considered when assessing pain-related issues and treatments.