EXPRESSING PAIN - THE COMMUNICATION AND INTERPRETATION OF FACIAL-PAINSIGNALS

This article reviews recent theory and research on the origins, nature , and meaning of facial expressions of pain. A general model of pain e xpression, distinguishing experiential, encoding, and decoding process es involved in pain episodes, is proposed. Variables which are known t o or may affect these processes are reviewed. Relationships between el ements of the model and clinical phenomena of interest to health-care workers are discussed. The implications of findings in this area for h ealth-care workers are examined. Areas in need of research are identif ied.