Look from Afar

There is an intersection between science and art, or more appropriately creativity, that intrigues me.

The results of this study are fascinating but what has me scratching my head is how someone even thought there might be a connection between pain and binoculars.

From Scienceblogs.com...

A new study published in Current Biology shows that visual distortions of the body image in patients suffering from chronic pain can significantly affect their perception of painful sensations.

[Test subjects] reported the greatest increase in pain when the image of their arm was distorted by the magnifying binoculars, and the least increase when they viewed their arms through the minifying binoculars.

Furthermore, the swelling that occurred following the movements increased more during the "magnified" condition than during the "minified", "clear" or control conditions. These findings therefore clearly demonstrate that making a limb look bigger than it actually is increases the pain and swelling evoked by movements and that, conversely, making a limb look smaller than it is reduces that pain.