Answer the following question: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Rene Descartes' explanation of pain has long been acknowledged in medicine. He proposed that pain is a purely physical phenomenon - that tissue injury makes specific nerves send a signal to the brain, causing the mind to notice pain. The phenomenon, he said, is like pulling on a rope to ring a bell in the brain. It is hard to overstate how deeply fixed this account has become. In medicine, doctors see pain in Descartes' terms-- as a physical process, a sign of tissue injury. The limitations of this explanation, however, have been apparent for some time, since people with obvious injuries sometimes report feeling no pain at all. Later, researchers proposed that Descartes' model be replaced with what they called the gate control theory of pain. They argued that before pain signals reach the brain, they must first go through a gating mechanism in the spinal cord . In some cases, this imaginary gate could simply stop pain signals from getting to the brain. Their most _ suggestion was that what controlled the gate was not just signals from sensory nerves but also emotions and other "output" from the brain. They were saying that pulling on the rope need not make the bell ring. The bell itself--the mind-- could stop it. This theory led to a great deal of research into how such factors as mood, gender, and beliefs influence the experience of pain. In a British study, for example, researchers measured pain threshold and tolerance levels in 53 ballet dancers and 53 university students by using a common measurement: after immersing your hand in body-temperature water for two minutes to establish a baseline condition, you put your hand in a bowl of ice water and start a clock running. You mark the time when it begins to hurt: that is your pain threshold. Then you mark the time when it hurts too much to keep your hand in the water: that is your pain tolerance. The test is always stopped at 120 seconds, to prevent injury. The results were striking. On average female students reported pain at 16 seconds and pulled their... Question: The primary purpose of the passage is to _ . Options: A: describe how modern research has updated an old explanation B: support a traditional view with new data C: promote a particular attitude towards physical experience D: suggest a creative treatment for a medical condition
Answer:
A