Attentional distraction tasks engage prefrontal regions for pain reduction, while viewing photos of a loved one engages reward-based circuits.

“So attention worked also. But attention and love worked on different circuits. So attentional distraction, they worked equally well, attention, again, worked on some of these prefrontal regions, these outer cortical areas. Love worked on more of what we classically think of as these reward based circuits, the nucleus accumbens, the amygdala. One of the descending brain stem regions called the substantia nigra, which is coming down from the brain through that area to the spinal cord to inhibit pain.”