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Nate:
from "Visual distortion of a limb modulates the pain and swelling evoked by movement," VSL Science, 19 December 2008 :: first posted here 19 December 2008

The next time you stub your toe, take out a telescope and look at your foot through the wrong end: According to researchers at Oxford University, such visual distortions have a powerful effect on how we perceive pain.

The scientists found that subjects who looked at a wounded hand through the right end of a pair of binoculars felt more pain and experienced increased swelling in that limb. But when the binoculars were flipped around, the suffering and swelling were lessened dramatically.