Pain Research Group, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2023 Apr 19;13(1):6360. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-33313-w.
Colors are an important factor that influences different aspects of people's lives. However, little is known about the effects of colors on pain. This preregistered study aimed to investigate whether the type of pain affects the impact of colors on pain intensity. 74 participants were randomly divided into 2 groups according to the type of pain: electrical or thermal. In both groups, pain stimuli of the same intensity were preceded by different colors. Participants rated the pain intensity induced by each pain stimulus. Additionally, pain expectations related to each color were rated at the beginning and the end of the procedure. A significant effect of color on pain intensity ratings was found. Pain was most intense in both groups after red, whereas the lowest ratings were given after white. A similar pattern of results was observed for pain expectations. Expectations also correlated with and were found to be a predictor of experienced pain for white, blue, and green. The study shows that white can reduce, while red can alter the experienced pain. Moreover, it shows that the effect of colors is affected to a greater extent by the pain expectations rather than the pain modality. We conclude that the way colors influence pain broadens the current knowledge on effects of colors on human behavior and could help in the future both patients and practitioners.
颜色是影响人们生活各个方面的一个重要因素。然而，人们对颜色对疼痛的影响知之甚少。这项预先注册的研究旨在调查疼痛类型是否会影响颜色对疼痛强度的影响。74 名参与者根据疼痛类型随机分为 2 组：电或热。在这两组中，相同强度的疼痛刺激之前呈现不同的颜色。参与者对每种疼痛刺激引起的疼痛强度进行评分。此外，在程序开始和结束时，对与每种颜色相关的疼痛预期进行评分。结果发现颜色对疼痛强度评分有显著影响。在这两组中，红色后疼痛最剧烈，而白色后疼痛评分最低。疼痛预期也呈现出类似的结果。期望也与体验到的疼痛相关，并被发现是白色、蓝色和绿色体验到的疼痛的预测因素。该研究表明，白色可以减轻，而红色可以改变所经历的疼痛。此外，它表明颜色的影响在更大程度上受到疼痛预期的影响，而不是疼痛模式。我们的结论是，颜色影响疼痛的方式拓宽了颜色对人类行为影响的现有知识，并可能有助于未来的患者和从业者。
