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How paracetamol, a popular pain reliever, affects the brain, science is still not fully known. But researchers have already shown that it prevents us from noticing our own mistakes.
Recent studies are shedding some light on the pain-relieving mechanisms of paracetamol, while showing that the drug may affect the evaluative functions of our brain as a whole. In particular, experiments have shown that people under the influence of paracetamol are less responsive to situations of uncertainty and less sensitive to social rejection and frustration.
Psychologist Daniel Randles from the University of British Columbia (Canada) conducted a study with colleagues to learn more about the side effects of paracetamol associated with its effect on the brain and mental processes.
The study involved 30 people who needed to press a button every time the letter F flashed on the screen, while avoiding pressing the same button if the letter E appeared. Some of them took 1000 mg of paracetamol before the start of the experiment, the rest were given a pill – pacifier (placebo). Neither the experimenters nor the participants knew which group received the placebo and which received the drug.
During the experiment, electroencephalogram (EEG) readings were taken from all participants. It is known that when we make a mistake and notice it, this is reflected in the EEG in the form of special waves.
When the mistake was made by participants who took paracetamol, they had a significantly weaker reaction compared to those volunteers who did not take the medication. Apparently, the painkillers prevented them from noticing their own mistakes.
Read more:
- The placebo effect is stronger than drugs
Daniel Randles suggests that paracetamol weakens conscious control. We perform many actions (reading, talking, walking) almost automatically: they do not require conscious control, since the neural networks that are responsible for them in our brain are well developed.
“However, sometimes we need to stop acting automatically, otherwise we will make a mistake. For example, if we are crossing the road while talking to a friend, we need to be prepared for the fact that a car will suddenly appear. We planned our experiment in such a way that most of the stimuli that appeared (letters on the screen) required pressing a button, so the person began to get used to constantly pressing it. When the “wrong” letter appeared, it was necessary to exercise conscious control so as not to press the button “on the machine,” the researcher explains.
An unexpected result was that the paracetamol-treated participants were more likely to miss the “correct” letter as well, without pressing the button when needed. In the future, Daniel Randles plans to investigate whether paracetamol causes increased distractibility and distractibility.
Подробнее см. D. Randles et al. «Acetaminophen attenuates error evaluation in cortex», Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, February 2016.