Useful effing analgesic

摘要

A RANDOMLY chosen expletive is a natural response to accidentally cutting a finger or stubbing a toe, but a good curse has been shown to serve a useful purpose in such circumstances, by increasing pain tolerance. Researchers from Keele University found that subjects could hold their hands in ice-cold water for nearly twice as long if they swore than if they used a neutral word. Day-to-day language is associated with the cortex of the left side of the brain, but swearing appears to activate deeper structures in the right side of the brain more associated with emotions. One such structure is the amygdala, an almond-shaped group of neurons that can trigger a "fight or flight" response of tachycardia and decreased pain sensitivity (hypoalgesia).The researchers concluded that swearing is a useful part of language that helps express strong emotions or react to high pressure situations.