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GATE 2023 XH5 (Psychology) – Question 35

Perception, Learning, Memory and Forgetting · Sensation: Sensory thresholds and adaptation, vision, hearing, touch and pain, smell and taste, kinesthesis and vestibular sense · 1 mark · Multiple choice

Which one of the following is TRUE for the Pain-Gate control theory?

  1. Gate is a physical structure
  2. Activity of gate cannot be closed by non-pain signals
  3. Substance P released into spinal cord does not activate other neurons that send messages through spinal gates
  4. Pain signals must pass through a gate located in the spinal cord

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Correct answer: (D) Pain signals must pass through a gate located in the spinal cord

Explanation

Melzack and Wall proposed a neural gate in the spinal cord that pain signals must pass to reach the brain. The gate is not a physical structure, and non-pain signals (such as rubbing) can close it.