Question

Days after breaking his nose in a football game, Ben still perceives a dull pain in his nose. The throbbing ache travels along slow fibers, which are

a. temperature; myelinated
b. vibration; unmyelinated
c. pain; myelinated
d. pain; unmyelinated

Answer 1

Ben's continuing dull pain from a broken nose is transmitted along slow, unmyelinated pain fibers, leading to a delayed perception of pain due to slower axon potential propagation.

Step-by-step explanation:

The dull pain that Ben perceives in his nose days after breaking it in a football game travels along slow pain fibers. These are typically associated with chronic pain and are characterized by their unmyelinated axons. Therefore, the correct answer to the question is d. pain; unmyelinated. Nociception, the process of perceiving pain, responds to injured stimuli (answer a. injured stimuli), and pain signals travel along pathways into the brain that can also carry temperature sensations, hence why extreme temperatures can be perceived as pain (thermoreception). Furthermore, because these slow fibers are unmyelinated, the propagation of the axon potential is slower, which can lead to a delayed perception of pain as the sensations take longer to reach the cerebral cortex.