Abstract: Fear of pain refers to fear triggered by noxious stimuli appraised as potential threats to physical integrity. This paper reviews research on its' effects on pain perception, attention towards pain, avoidance behavior and placebo analgesia. In addition, leading explanations of fear of pain are outlined: the activity avoidance model, the fear-avoidance model and the interceptive fear conditioning model. Finally, select future research directions are discussed, particularly exploration of cognitive mechanism underlying fear of pain via applications of research methods from cognitive neurosciences.

Key words: pain, fear of pain, fear-avoidance model, cognitive mechanism