A new study led by the 做厙輦⑹ finds that when we use our thoughts to dull or enhance our experience of pain, the physical pain signal in the brainsent by nerves in the area of a wound, for example, and encoded in multiple regions in the cerebrumdoes not actually change. Instead the act of using thoughts to modulate pain, a technique called cognitive self-regulation that is commonly used to manage chronic pain, works via a separate pathway in the brain.