研究：學數學可引發生理疼痛

Scientists have proved what students have long suspected: Maths equations can actually trigger physical pain.

Regions of the brain linked with the experience of physical suffering were activated in those fearful of maths when they were presented with a tough equation, researchers have found.

The higher a person's anxiety of a maths task, the more it increases activity in regions of their brain associated with visceral threat detection, and often the experience of pain itself, according to researchers Ian Lyons and Sian Beilock, from the University of Chicago, who had their study published in the journal Plos One.

However, they say their study examines the pain response associated with anticipating an anxiety-provoking event, rather than the pain associated with a stressful event itself.

A maths task itself is not painful but merely the thought of it is highly unpleasant to certain people.

"Math can be difficult, and for those with high levels of mathematics-anxiety (HMAs), math is associated with tension, apprehension and fear," the authors said in their paper titled, When Math Hurts.

"Interestingly, this relation was not seen during math performance, suggesting that it is not that math itself hurts, rather, the anticipation of math is painful.

"These results may also provide a potential neural mechanism to explain why (people with) HMAs tend to avoid math and math-related situations, which in turn can bias (those with) high levels of mathematics-anxiety away from taking math classes or even entire math-related career paths."

"We provide the first neural evidence indicating the nature of the subjective experience of math-anxiety."

The researchers used 14 people with HMAs and 14 who had low levels of maths anxiety.

The subjects were then asked to complete word tasks and maths tasks.

Other forms of psychological stress, such as social rejection or a traumatic break-up, can also elicit feelings of physical pain.科學家已經證實了學生們長期以來的猜測：數學問題真的會導致疼痛感。

研究人員發現，當遇到難解的數學問題時，產生的恐懼可能激活大腦中主管生理痛的區域。

一個人對數學題越焦慮，與感官威脅偵測有關的大腦區域就越活躍，感受到的疼痛就越劇烈。這項研究是由芝加哥大學的研究者伊恩-里昂和西恩-貝洛克做出的，研究結果發表在《公共科學圖書館—綜合》雜誌上。

但研究者表示，他們的研究考察了參與一項可引發焦慮的事情導致的疼痛反應，而不是可引發焦慮的事情本身導致的疼痛反應。

數學題本身並不會讓人感到疼痛，但思考數學題會使一些人非常不愉快。

研究員在名爲《數學傷害》的研究報告中說：“數學題可能很難解答，對那些患有高度數學焦慮感的人們來說，數學可以使人感到緊張、憂慮和恐懼。”

“有趣的是，這種關係不會體現在數學成績中。這意味着數學本身不會讓人難受，但對它的思考可令某些人非常痛苦。”

“這一研究成果爲我們提供了一種潛在的神經機制，用來解釋爲什麼有數學焦慮感的人不想做數學題，也不想解決與數學有關的問題。這也導致一些患有數學焦慮感的人們不想上數學課，也不想從事與數學有關的全部職業。”

“我們首次提供了能夠證實數學焦慮感主觀體驗特性的神經學證據。”

受調查者中，14人對數學問題有強烈的恐懼感，另外14人則恐懼感不明顯。

之後研究人員要求他們解答詞彙問題和數學問題。

社會排斥或創傷性精神崩潰等其他心理壓力也可能引發生理痛。