Researchers reveal the brains of babies apparently "light up" when they're exposed to pain, a reaction surprisingly similar to adults that suggests babies feel the same amount of pain as do adults.

Scientists from Oxford University used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for this particular study and discovered 18 out of 20 regions of the brain active in adults upon receiving painful stimulus were also active in babies, as well.

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This new study analyzed brain scans of sleeping infants subjected to mild poking at the bottom of their feet with a special rod. This created a sensation similar to being poked with a pencil and revealed this sensation registered in their brains.

Babies also showed the same response with a much slighter poke compared to adults that received the same stimulus four times stronger. This suggests babies also have a very low pain threshold.

Some people may argue infants' brains aren't yet developed enough for them to feel pain but this new study provides substantial evidence this isn't the case, said study lead author Rebeccah Slater, a doctor from Oxford's pediatrics department.

Up until the 1980s, it was common medical practice for babies undergoing surgery to receive just neuromuscular blocks and no pain relief medication whatsoever.

A review of neonatal pain management in intensive care in 2014 found that despite these babies experiencing an average of 11 painful procedures per day, 60 percent receive any kind of pain medication.

Slater adds this new study doesn't only show that babies experience pain but they could also be more sensitive to it as opposed to adults. If doctors provide pain relief for older children undergoing surgery, then babies should also receive pain relief as well, she says.

The study observed 10 healthy babies from one to six days old and 10 healthy adults from ages 23 to 36. The babies were placed inside an MRI scanner after most of them had taken naps.

This study was published in the journal, eLife.

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