DID executioners feel a neck twinge when the guillotine met its mark? Very possibly.
Salvatore Aglioti and colleagues at La Sapienza University in Rome report that both observers and victims of pain exhibit the same physical reactions.
Volunteers were shown videos of a needle being inserted into someone’s hand or foot while electrodes on their skin measured the activity of muscles in their own hands and feet to see if they behaved in the same way as someone actually feeling pain in those places.
To reveal the physical effects of watching the needle pricks, the researchers used a technique called…
