Scientists have proved what students have long suspected: Maths equations can actually trigger physical pain.

Scientists have proved what students have long suspected: Maths equations can actually trigger physical pain.

Regions of the brain linked with the experience of physical suffering were activated in those fearful of maths when they were presented with a tough equation, researchers have found.

The higher a person's anxiety of a maths task, the more it increases activity in regions of their brain associated with visceral threat detection, and often the experience of pain itself, according to researchers Ian Lyons and Sian Beilock, from the University of Chicago, who had their study published in the journal Plos One.

However, they say their study examines the pain response associated with anticipating an anxiety-provoking event, rather than the pain associated with a stressful event itself.

A maths task itself is not painful but merely the thought of it is highly unpleasant to certain people.

"Math can be difficult, and for those with high levels of mathematics-anxiety (HMAs), math is associated with tension, apprehension and fear," the authors said in their paper titled, When Math Hurts.

"Interestingly, this relation was not seen during math performance, suggesting that it is not that math itself hurts, rather, the anticipation of math is painful.

"These results may also provide a potential neural mechanism to explain why (people with) HMAs tend to avoid math and math-related situations, which in turn can bias (those with) high levels of mathematics-anxiety away from taking math classes or even entire math-related career paths."

"We provide the first neural evidence indicating the nature of the subjective experience of math-anxiety."

The researchers used 14 people with HMAs and 14 who had low levels of maths anxiety.

The subjects were then asked to complete word tasks and maths tasks.

Other forms of psychological stress, such as social rejection or a traumatic break-up, can also elicit feelings of physical pain.

(Read by CJ Henderson. CJ Henderson is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

(Agencies)

科学家已经证实了学生们长期以来的猜测：数学问题真的会导致疼痛感。

研究人员发现，当遇到难解的数学问题时，产生的恐惧可能激活大脑中主管生理痛的区域。

一个人对数学题越焦虑，与感官威胁侦测有关的大脑区域就越活跃，感受到的疼痛就越剧烈。这项研究是由芝加哥大学的研究者伊恩-里昂和西恩-贝洛克做出的，研究结果发表在《公共科学图书馆—综合》杂志上。

但研究者表示，他们的研究考察了参与一项可引发焦虑的事情导致的疼痛反应，而不是可引发焦虑的事情本身导致的疼痛反应。

数学题本身并不会让人感到疼痛，但思考数学题会使一些人非常不愉快。

研究员在名为《数学伤害》的研究报告中说：“数学题可能很难解答，对那些患有高度数学焦虑感的人们来说，数学可以使人感到紧张、忧虑和恐惧。”

“有趣的是，这种关系不会体现在数学成绩中。这意味着数学本身不会让人难受，但对它的思考可令某些人非常痛苦。”

“这一研究成果为我们提供了一种潜在的神经机制，用来解释为什么有数学焦虑感的人不想做数学题，也不想解决与数学有关的问题。这也导致一些患有数学焦虑感的人们不想上数学课，也不想从事与数学有关的全部职业。”

“我们首次提供了能够证实数学焦虑感主观体验特性的神经学证据。”

受调查者中，14人对数学问题有强烈的恐惧感，另外14人则恐惧感不明显。

之后研究人员要求他们解答词汇问题和数学问题。

社会排斥或创伤性精神崩溃等其他心理压力也可能引发生理痛。

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