I love reading about neuroscience research in child development, mindfulness, and of course, pain. And as I parent a child with an increasing vocabulary, the topic of swear words is ever present.  So this article caught my eye.

“While writing the chapter on pain and swearing, I realized that pain is not a purely neurological phenomenon. Sure, peripheral sensory neurons give you information about a stimulus, but the way you process that pain is as much psychologically constructed as it is neurologically formed. Our anticipation of pain, our gender roles and social expectations, even whether we’re feeling lonely or sad, all change the way we feel pain. Swearing is just one of those factors.” Emma Byrne, author of Swearing is Good for You.

Read her full article, “Why Swearing & Pain go Hand in Hand” in The Scientist, January 2018