Love can turn physical pain to pleasure, a China-US brain study on spicy food finds

Why do some people love spice, while others hate it? That is the question at the centre of a Chinese-American study into how our expectations alter the way our brains respond to sources of pain.

Capsaicin, the active component of chilli, can stimulate pain receptors on the human tongue.

But responses to this can be poles apart, which has puzzled scientists.

The new study shows that positive expectations can reduce the perceived intensity of spice and increase enjoyment, while negative expectations can worsen feelings of discomfort or pain.

“Expectations shape our perception, profoundly influencing how we interpret the world,” the researchers wrote in a paper published in peer-reviewed journal PLOS Biology on Tuesday.

“Positive expectations about sensory stimuli can alleviate distress and reduce pain (eg placebo effect), while negative expectations may heighten anxiety and exacerbate pain (eg nocebo effect),” the team from East China Normal University, Virginia Tech, University of California, Berkeley and Wake Forest University School of Medicine wrote.