We usually think of bodily sensations as information the brain receives. What if the way we attend to those sensations can feed back and change the biological response itself?
Attention is already known to shape how bodily sensations are perceived. Focusing away from pain or itch, for example, can make these sensations feel less intense. A new study from the lab of Dr. Liron Rozenkrantz at Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, published today in Nature Human Behaviour , shows that attention can also influence the body’s inflammatory response.
When people voluntarily focused their attention on sensations arising from a small area of inflammation in their arm, the inflammatory response was smaller and showed faster recovery dynamics than when their attention was directed away from those sensations.
The study, led by Dr. Nofar Mizrachi and conducted in collaboration with Prof. Menachem Rottem, a clinical immunologist, involved 57 healthy volunteers across three preregistered experiments. Participants underwent a standardized procedure that produced a small, temporary inflammatory response in the skin. They were then instructed either to focus on sensations from the affected area or to direct their attention elsewhere. The researchers measured the inflammatory response for 20 minutes as it unfolded, along with physiological measures such as heart-rate variability, skin temperature and autonomic activity.
The effect was substantial and highly consistent: nearly 90% of participants showed a smaller inflammatory response when they focused on the affected area, with responses approximately 1.5-fold smaller under internal attention compared with distraction. Differences emerged within minutes, with the response also showing faster return toward baseline.
“What was particularly striking was that directing attention toward the inflamed area changed not only what participants experienced, but the inflammatory response itself,” said Dr. Rozenkrantz. “This raises the possibility that our subjective experience of what is happening in the body is not only a passive process, but may be actively contributing to how physiological responses are regulated.”
The researchers identified two complementary pathways that contributed to the effect. One involved sensory signals coming from the inflamed tissue. The other was a top-down mechanism through which attention continued to influence inflammation even when sensory signals were reduced using a local anesthetic.
Together, the findings suggest that attention can influence inflammation through both sensory and top-down pathways. More broadly, they suggest that the way the brain prioritizes signals from the body may have consequences for how the body regulates itself.
The experiments involved healthy volunteers and a controlled model of acute skin inflammation. Whether the same mechanisms apply to chronic inflammation, autoimmune disease, wound healing or other conditions remains to be determined. The team’s next step is to identify the precise brain and immune pathways involved and determine whether similar effects occur in other physiological systems.
Nature Human Behaviour
Voluntary Attention Regulates Acute Immune Responses in Humans
17-Aug-2026