It would seem to me that the psychological sensation of pain would be getting angry, upset, scared, turned on or whatever. Our emotional reaction to pain is totally dependant on the situation. There is one thing that all painful experiences have in common, however, and that is the hurt. A burn always feels like a burn, a cut like a cut. I can't see it being any different (or less painful) for the fish.
do fish feel pain
- Thread starter Dragon_Lord_Tia
- Start date
hmm.. i mean i dont know, obviously i've never asked a fish, but even if i did, i'm guessing it wouldnt know english. it just seems like the fish responded to the knife like i would. if i had novacaine(sp?) or something i wouldnt react that way cause i wouldnt be feeling the pain. but since i could feel the pain, i would try to move, or cringe or whatever. ya know?
the psychological sensation of pain is exactly what it sounds like. You being able to feel pain. Your reaction to it will be different than the reaction of fish, as humans are conciously aware and can modify their reactions based on their advanced celebral cortex. Fish are the simplest vertebrates and are not conciously aware. They have no feelings, no misery, no pain. They react to stimulus with either fight or flight, as most animals do. If your arm was numb, a cut wouldnt still be painful neither would a burn. You would still know it was there yes, but it wouldnt give you an unpleasent sensation we refer to as pain.
audio- people do react when they are unconcious or they dont feel pain. Like when you go to the dentist and they numb your teeth. Most likely you still feel the drill and cringe. However, if the novicane is working, you do not feel the pain associated with it.
audio- people do react when they are unconcious or they dont feel pain. Like when you go to the dentist and they numb your teeth. Most likely you still feel the drill and cringe. However, if the novicane is working, you do not feel the pain associated with it.
yea, the poll is pretty biased.
Those of you that put down "they feel pain physically". Its an emotional response. You cant "physically" feel pain.
Considering that the definiton of physically is "Of or relating to the body as distinguished from the mind or spirit"
And pain as we know it is an unpleasent sensation that comes from your brain. Pain is 100% psychological.
Those of you that put down "they feel pain physically". Its an emotional response. You cant "physically" feel pain.
Considering that the definiton of physically is "Of or relating to the body as distinguished from the mind or spirit"
And pain as we know it is an unpleasent sensation that comes from your brain. Pain is 100% psychological.
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I cannot fully understand this view. It is almost like a distinction withut a difference to me. Nerves transmit messages from the area of concern to the brain; this is an electrical/physical reality. The brain converts that electrical message into more and different messages ("remove hand from flame!"); this part is clearly mental or 'psychological'. Any animal with nerve endings gets the signals. The conversion of those signals by the brain into feelings like "ouch, that hurts!" is what the fish-feel-no-pain folks hang on I think.
I think fish get the nerve signals but could agree that they don't have 'feelings'. Still, they 'understand' when something is wrong and bad for them and those signals tap into that section of the brain. So, in summary, they get nerve impulses that they know means 'get away from here' - that is close enough to feeling pain for me.
They are distinct things.
Take alot of pain killers. Go walk into a chair. You dont feel any pain but you still know you walked into the chair.
Fish dont have a developed cerebral cortex that is responsible for being aware and sensations such as pain. They are brainstem dominated. They see a threat and they choose to fight or flee.
Take alot of pain killers. Go walk into a chair. You dont feel any pain but you still know you walked into the chair.
Fish dont have a developed cerebral cortex that is responsible for being aware and sensations such as pain. They are brainstem dominated. They see a threat and they choose to fight or flee.
Not true. I saw a Nova or Discovery Channel special on this. The knee-jerk reaction of quickly grabbing your hand away from a hot griddle is NOT something run by your brain. Pain such as this only makes it as far as your spinal cord before forcing you into action. The pain message cannot go all the way to your brain, wait for your brain to make a decision, and then send the message to your hand that it needs to move... That instantaneous reaction to grab your hand away has to be automatic or you might get a bad enough burn that you actually lose the use of your hand. Only after you're already removing your hand from the burning griddle does your brain get the message "Damn, that's hot".
IMO, fish MUST feel pain. Think about it. Say a larger fish comes along and takes a bite at his tail. Yeah, he'll flinch away, but then he will also avoid that size/type of fish in the future, because he associates the sensation of pain with that fish. Natural selection would weed out any fish that experienced pain but survived only to get right back into the same situation all over again because it didn't have any lasting memory of the pain.
Granted, fish don't have much of a thought process, but they feel pain sure as you and I do. And it has to be more than just a automatic flinch response, or all fish would have been wiped out long ago.
IMO, fish MUST feel pain. Think about it. Say a larger fish comes along and takes a bite at his tail. Yeah, he'll flinch away, but then he will also avoid that size/type of fish in the future, because he associates the sensation of pain with that fish. Natural selection would weed out any fish that experienced pain but survived only to get right back into the same situation all over again because it didn't have any lasting memory of the pain.
Granted, fish don't have much of a thought process, but they feel pain sure as you and I do. And it has to be more than just a automatic flinch response, or all fish would have been wiped out long ago.
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I dont think your arguing with me on your first part of that response, and I agree. All animals will react to threatening stimuli before any concious awarness of the situation. The spinal cord and brain stem respond to this stimuli. (Not pain, the spine and brain stem have nothing to do with sensations of pain)
All animals will react to irritating stimuli, but not all animals have the capacity to sense what the stimuli is in response to. Why must pain be experienced for a fish to flee from irritating or threatening stimuli?
All animals will react to irritating stimuli, but not all animals have the capacity to sense what the stimuli is in response to. Why must pain be experienced for a fish to flee from irritating or threatening stimuli?
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"The knee-jerk reaction of quickly grabbing your hand away from a hot griddle is NOT something run by your brain. "
ALL actions , even reflexes, have their origins in the brain. It's which PART of the brain that is important.
Reflexes such as the one above are controlled by the brain STEM, which is indeed a part of the brain, not the spinal cord.
ALL actions , even reflexes, have their origins in the brain. It's which PART of the brain that is important.
Reflexes such as the one above are controlled by the brain STEM, which is indeed a part of the brain, not the spinal cord.
