Evolutionary Hypotheses For The Relationship Between Pain and Pleasure
Whether or not pain and pleasure is indeed on a continuum, it still remains scientifically supported that parts of the neural pathways for the two perceptions overlap. There is also scientific evidence that one may have opposing effects on the other. So why would it be evolutionarily advantageous to human beings to develop a relationship between the two perceptions at all?
Dr. Kringelbach suggests that this relationship between pain and pleasure would be evolutionarily efficient, because it was necessary to know whether or not to avoid or approach something for survival. According to Dr. Norman Doidge, the brain is limited in the sense that it tends to focus on the most used pathways. Therefore, having a common pathway for pain and pleasure could have simplified the way in which human beings have interacted with the environment (Dr.Morten L. Kringelbach, personal communication, October 24, 2011).
Leknes and Tracey offer two theoretical perspectives to why a relationship could be evolutionarily advantageous.
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