ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2019
The facial expression of pain in humans considered from a social perspective.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Grimace scale, burrowing, and nest building for the assessment of post-surgical pain in mice and rats-A systematic review.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Pooled it
- An exploratory study of headache pain intensity using facial expressions and APEX frames.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Pain-Related Injustice Appraisals, Sickle Cell Stigma, and Racialized Discrimination in the Youth with Sickle Cell Disease: A Preliminary Investigation.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Do some people with a prolonged disorder of consciousness experience pain? A clinically focused narrative review and synthesis.Clinical rehabilitation · 2025Review
- The Investigation of the Relationship Between Individual Pain Perception, Brain Electrical Activity, and Facial Expression Based on Combined EEG and Facial EMG Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Sensorimotor regulation of facial expression - An untouched frontier.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Review
- Corrugator Muscle Activity Associated with Pressure Pain in Adults with Neck/Shoulder Pain.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- From facial expressions to algorithms: a narrative review of animal pain recognition technologies.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Review
- Advancements in Understanding and Classifying Chronic Orofacial Pain: Key Insights from Biopsychosocial Models and International Classifications (ICHD-3, ICD-11, ICOP).Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Post-injury pain and behaviour: a control theory perspective.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2023Review
- Parental Pain Catastrophizing, Communication Ability, and Post-surgical Pain Outcomes Following Intrathecal Baclofen Implant Surgery for Patients With Cerebral Palsy.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- A child in pain: A psychologist's perspective on changing priorities in scientific understanding and clinical care.Paediatric & neonatal pain · 2020Review
- Persistence of pain in humans and other mammals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Review
- Evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The social modulation of pain in humans has been neglected so far with respect to verbal as well as non-verbal communication of pain. The facial pain expression is a powerful way to communicate pain, and there are some theoretical accounts available on how social modulation may affect the encoding of the facial expression of pain. Some accounts, particularly in the pain field, are proximate explanations on the mechanisms involved, whereas an evolutionary psychology account takes a more comprehensive approach. A review of nine experimental studies revealed that in the majority of studies (6/9), social context had an effect on the facial pain expression, but results were inconsistent. Several conceptual and methodological issues are discussed which may explain these inconsistencies and could help in design of future experimental studies. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain'.
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