Science in Poland

Experiencing acute pain can alter how people perceive the size and shape of their bodies and reduce satisfaction with their appearance, according to a study by researchers from the Jagiellonian University, the Academy of Physical Education in Katowice and the University of Lübeck.

The findings, published in the journal Pain, showed that experimentally induced pain caused participants to perceive the painful part of the body as larger and led to lower overall body satisfaction.

Researchers analysed how acute pain affects body image and sensory perception using a controlled experiment involving more than 90 participants without chronic pain. One group received a saline injection into the lower back that caused short-term pain, a second group received a simulated painless injection, and a third group served as a control.

The study found that only participants experiencing actual pain reported distortions in body perception.

“In everyday life, we do not notice this nature of body perception because the brain performs its functions extremely efficiently. However, under certain conditions, for example, under the influence of pain, distortions can occur,” said Aleksandra Budzisz, a psychologist at the Institute of Psychology at Jagiellonian University and the study’s lead author.

Instytut Psychologii UJ
Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego im. Jerzego Kukuczki w Katowicach
Universität zu Lübeck

Acute pain can distort body perception and self-esteem, study finds Experiencing acute pain can alter how people perceive the size and shape of their bodies and reduce satisfaction with their appearance, according to a study by researchers from the Jagiellonian University, the Academy of Physical Education in Katowice and the University of Lübeck.

Lower respiratory tract infections, mainly pneumonia and acute bronchiolitis, remained the world’s leading infectious causes of death in 2023, accounting for 2.5 million deaths globally, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The report, titled “Global burden of lower respiratory infections and aetiologies, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023,” estimated that such infections also caused nearly 99 million years of life lost due to premature death or disability last year.

The study found that mortality among children under five has fallen by one-third since 2010, largely due to expanded vaccination programmes. However, researchers said pneumonia is increasingly becoming a disease concentrated at two ends of the age spectrum: young children and adults over 70.

The heaviest burden now falls on older people, who currently experience the highest death rates from lower respiratory tract infections worldwide.

Pneumonia and bronchiolitis still among world’s deadliest diseases Lower respiratory tract infections, mainly pneumonia and acute bronchiolitis, remained the world’s leading infectious causes of death in 2023, accounting for 2.5 million deaths globally, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

People who use psychedelic substances process emotions differently and may recognise threats more quickly and accurately than non-users, according to a new study by researchers at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

The findings, published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, are based on brain imaging research comparing people who had used psychedelics at least 10 times in their lives with individuals who had never used such substances.

Researchers from the university’s Brain Research Centre found that users of psychedelics responded faster and more accurately when identifying anger in facial expressions, a result they say may indicate more effective processing of threat signals.

“It turned out that users of psychedelics were faster and more accurate in recognizing anger in other people's faces. This effect was specific to this emotion, and no similar differences were observed for fear or joy. This may indicate that users of psychedelics process threat signals more effectively. Interestingly, this was not due to impulsivity. Typically, faster, impulsive reactions are associated with more errors, but in this case, the opposite was true: the reactions were both faster and more accurate”, said Michał Bola, who led the study.
Centrum Badań Mózgu

Psychedelic substance users process threats differently, Krakow study finds People who use psychedelic substances process emotions differently and may recognise threats more quickly and accurately than non-users, according to a new study by researchers at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.