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For some, the quick prick of a needle at the doctor’s office is no big deal. For others it can be a nightmare. New research suggests that the difference could lie in what you’re looking at.
Researchers simulated needle pricks by giving participants a little shock to their hand. As they did that, subjects had to watch three different videos. One was of a needle pricking a hand, another was of a Q-tip touching a hand, and the third was just a hand all by its lonesome self.
Subjects who watched the hand being pricked while they were shocked found the pain far more intense than those who watched a Q-tip or nothing at all.
The researchers also tried telling patients which one—the needle or the Q-tip—would be more painful. If the patients expected the Q-tip to be worse, they felt worse when watching the Q-tip, and vice versa. The work was published in the journal aptly named Pain. [Marion Höfle et al., "Viewing a needle pricking a hand that you perceive as yours enhances unpleasantness of pain"]
So the next time you’re at the doctor’s office getting ready for a shot, take the advice often offered by mountain climbers: don’t look down.
—Rose Eveleth
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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5 Comments
Add CommentSeriously? Actual, bona fide, grant funded researchers were need for this? My grandmother told me this when I was 5! If it really required confirming then it might have made a reasonable Mythbusters project or a Junior High homework exercise. Oh well, roll on the Ignobels!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan we just get a grandmother to write this stuff? Really? LOOKING at impending pain MAY increase it? Revelation!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShocking stuff. And they research this stuff, and pay people to "report" it!
Gramma - you can make a fortune doing this stuff - you know, life experiences? Get a pencil.
synchronicity - same minds run in the same gutter...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlways been afraid of needles. When I was only 3 it took 4 adults to hold me down for a shot.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy eventual solution was to look directly at the needle as I'm getting stuck. Works every time.
Now I'm a regular blood donor...
Makes logical sense! However, I always watch the needle and feel little or no pain, probably because I'm not afraid.
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