Pain is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

The study found that when subjects expected more heat, brain regions involved in threat and fear were more activated as they waited. Regions involved in the generation of pain were more active when they received the stimulus. Participants reported more pain with high-pain cues, regardless of how much heat they actually got. “This suggests that expectations had a rather deep effect, influencing how the brain processes pain,” said Jepma. https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/pain-is-a-self-fulfilling-prophecy-311858?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67531906&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Cf0osCsdgQkeJFfoJbvL2lSYRbimLzb_m6kiRXgEHRfXTpqnCm9mQv5V13NFJ9W1DMQV0SwzSVBOwvbzPBAeGCv6zSA&_hsmi=67531906