Neuroscience finds musicians feel pain differently from the rest of us \ stacker news ~science

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Neuroscience finds musicians feel pain differently from the rest of us theconversation.com/neuroscience-finds-musicians-feel-pain-differently-from-the-rest-of-us-265815

219 sats \ 10 comments \ @south_korea_ln 11h science

A striking difference When we compared the brains of the musicians and the non-musicians, the differences were striking. Even before we induced pain, the musicians showed a more finely tuned hand map in the brain, and the more hours they had spent practising, the more refined this map was found to be.

After pain was induced, the musicians reported experiencing less discomfort overall. And while the hand map in non-musicians’ brains shrank after just two days of pain, the maps in musicians’ brains remained unchanged – amazingly, the more hours they had trained, the less pain they felt.

This was a small study of just 40 people, but the results clearly showed that the musicians’ brains responded differently to pain. Their training seems to have given them a kind of buffer against the usual negative effects, both in how much pain they felt and in how their brain’s motor areas reacted.

These are the main findings, but reading the whole article gives proper context. It's a pleasant read imo.

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127 sats \ 4 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 6h

Interesting stuff. I play the triangle, guess that makes me a musician, right? Ahahaha

This article reminded me of another one.

Swearing as a Response to Pain—Effect of Daily Swearing Frequency

Abstract

Previously we showed that swearing produces a pain lessening (hypoalgesic) effect for many people. This paper assesses whether habituation to swearing occurs such that people who swear more frequently in daily life show a lesser pain tolerance effect of swearing, compared with people who swear less frequently. Pain outcomes were assessed in participants asked to repeat a swear word versus a nonswear word. Additionally, sex differences and the roles of pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, and daily swearing frequency were explored. Swearing increased pain tolerance and heart rate compared with not swearing. Moreover, the higher the daily swearing frequency, the less was the benefit for pain tolerance when swearing, compared with when not swearing. This paper shows apparent habituation related to daily swearing frequency, consistent with our theory that the underlying mechanism by which swearing increases pain tolerance is the provocation of an emotional response.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1526590011007620#bib20

33 sats \ 3 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 1h

I'll tell my son to swear a bit more when he hurts himself on the playground.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 1h

Doesn’t bother me at all to say or hear swear words, but isn’t that like a big deal in South Korea? Prejudices are there to be broken anyway!

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @south_korea_ln OP 1h

He's actually been learning about good and bad words at kindergarten these days. The intensity of the bad words he knows is still extremely innocent.

But teen-agers will be swearing all the time. Not really a big deal. Lots of old men also swear a lot. It's bad manners, but it's ok if you do it with the right people.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner 42m

If he drops some swear words and then says it helps with the pain, it doesn’t even seem that bad, almost sounds like science! Haha

81 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 11h

That's interesting. I wonder--is it unique to pain, or do musicians just experience a whole range of sensations differently.

87 sats \ 1 reply \ @SpaceHodler 5h

It also changes the way you hear music. You start noticing things non-musicians don't notice. Musical training often involves ear training, which makes you notice chords, intervals etc.

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 1h

I think we can probably apply this same logic to any person who practices the same thing for a long time. Any prolonged activity rewires your brain one way or another. Athletes, musicians, even the old man who sits day in day out at the desk at the entrance of our apartment must have modified their senses one way or another through repeated action.

It's interesting to see it quantified for musicians and pain, but there are probably 100s of combinations that will yield positive results.