Patients who have negative expectations about the outcome of a surgical procedure may experience increased postoperative pain. This best illustrates the importance of

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Top-down processing refers to how our expectations, beliefs, and prior knowledge can influence our perception and processing of sensory information. In this case, a patient's negative expectations about the outcome of a surgical procedure can influence their perception of postoperative pain, even if the pain is not actually more severe than it would be for a patient with positive expectations.

Patients Who Have Negative Expectations About the Outcome of a Surgical