Pain laboratory reveals how to alter pain levels
What you look at can influence how much pain you feel, a study published in the journal Psychological Science has revealed.
Contrary to many people's compulsion to look away while a painful event such as an injection takes place, scientists found that looking at your body - in this case the hand - reduces the pain experienced.
The team also showed that magnifying the hand to make it appear larger, reduced pain levels further still.
Professor Patrick Haggard and Dr Flavia Mancini from University College London invited science reporter Rebecca Morelle to their laboratory for a first-hand look at their experiments.
10 Feb 2011
- From the section Science & Environment