Think Spicy Food Hurts? Your Brain Might Be Playing Tricks on You

Hot Sauce Study Shows How Expectations Can Turn Up the Heat—Or Cool It Down

Can your brain trick you into enjoying—or hating—spicy food? According to a new study published in PLOS Biology, it certainly can. Researchers from East China Normal University and Wake Forest School of Medicine have uncovered how our expectations about taste can make a hot meal either a pleasurable thrill or a painful challenge.

The study, led by Yi Luo and Kenneth Kishida, found that what we expect before taking a bite has a powerful impact on how we experience the food itself, particularly when it comes to spicy flavors. When people approach spicy food with positive expectations—believing it will taste good—the brain’s reward centers light up, making the experience more enjoyable. But if they anticipate discomfort or pain, the brain shifts into a pain-processing mode, amplifying the burn.

This “placebo effect” of spicy food was observed in 47 participants, some of whom loved the heat, while others hated it. As they tasted hot sauce, their brains were scanned using functional MRI, revealing key differences in neural activity depending on whether they were expecting pleasure or pain. Positive expectations triggered heightened activity in areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward, while negative expectations activated regions linked to pain perception.

“Our study highlights how hedonic expectations shape subjective experiences and neural responses, offering new insights into the mechanisms behind pain perception,” the authors wrote.

The findings suggest that the way we approach not just spicy food, but any sensory experience, can be influenced by what we expect. This opens up potential avenues for managing pain or discomfort through mental cues, and could have implications for consumer behavior and therapy alike.

The next time you grab a bottle of hot sauce, remember: your brain might be making it feel hotter—or cooler—than it really is.