Distributed processing that gives rise to pain experience is anchored by a multidimensional self-model that anchors allostatic active inference. I show how the phenomenon of pain asymbolia and other atypical pain-related conditions (Insensitivity to Pain, Chronic Pain, ‘Social’ Pain, Insensitivity to Pain, Chronic Pain, ‘Social’ Pain, empathy for pain and suffering) can be explained by this idea. It provides a better account of neural correlates than influential affective and depersonalisation accounts of pain asymbolia.

The self modelling account also provides an alternative interpretation of some famous lesion cases to that recently offered by Lisa Feldman Barrett. LFB argues on the bases of these cases that the anterior insula cannot be a substrate of either affective experience or self awareness. I argue that LFB’s argument depends on a shotgun marriage between her earlier constructive theory of emotion and affective experience and current predictive processing theory. This unhappy partnership is dissolved by the active inference self modelling account.