Dirty Harry11 months ago

Pain can be a self-fulfilling prophecy

A new brain imaging study of 34 people found that when people expect to feel intense pain, they do, even if they aren't subjected to painful stimuli. Surprisingly, these false expectations can persist even when reality demonstrates otherwise, the study found. "We discovered that there is a positive feedback loop between expectation and pain," said senior author Tor Wager, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder. "The more pain you expect, the stronger your brain responds to the pain. The stronger your brain responds to the pain, the more you expect." Read full article...