The research carried out by the University of Bari in Italy could help vindicate hospitals who are accused of wasting money on art and decor as it suggests a pleasant environment helps patients overcome discomfort and pain.

A team headed by Professor Marina de Tommaso at the Neurophysiopathology Pain Unit asked a group of men and women to pick the 20 paintings they considered most ugly and most beautiful from a selection of 300 works by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli.

They were then asked to contemplate either the beautiful paintings, or the ugly painting, or a blank panel while the team zapped a short laser pulse at their hand, creating a sensation as if they had been pricked by a pin.

The subjects rated the pain as being a third less intense while they were viewing the beautiful paintings, compared with when contemplating the ugly paintings or the blank panel.

Electrodes measuring the brain's electrical activity also confirmed a reduced response to the pain when the subject looked at beautiful paintings.

While distractions, such as music, are known to reduce pain in hospital patients, Prof de Tommaso says this is the first result to show that beauty plays a part.

The findings, reported in New Scientist, also go a long way to show that beautiful surroundings could aid the healing process.

"Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their aesthetic aspects should be taken into account too," said the neurologist.

"Beauty obviously offers a distraction that ugly paintings do not. But at least there is no suggestion that ugly surroundings make the pain worse. "

"I think these results show that more research is needed into the how a beautiful environment can alleviate suffering."

Pictures they liked included Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Botticellis Birth of Venus. Pictures they found ugly included works by Pablo Picasso, the Italian 20th century artist Anonio Bueno and Columbian Fernando Botero.

"These people were not art experts so some of the pictures they found ugly would be considered masterpieces by the art world," said Prof de Tommaso.

意大利巴里大學日前開展的一項研究表明，舒適愉悅的環境有助于減輕病人的痛苦。這一發現有力駁斥了認為醫院不應該把錢浪費在藝術品裝飾上的說法。

該研究由巴里大學“病理生理學病痛研究中心”的馬蓮娜•德•托馬索教授領導的研究小組開展。研究人員讓一組研究對象從達•芬奇和桑德羅•波提切利等著名畫家的300幅畫作中選出20幅他們認為最美麗或最難看的作品。

之后，研究人員讓他們注視著這些最美麗或最難看的畫作，或者一個空白的畫板，而此時研究人員則用短激光脈沖照射他們的手，讓他們有種刺痛感。

結果發現，與注視著難看的畫作或空白畫板的人相比，看著美麗畫作的人疼痛感減少了三分之一。

此外，腦電波檢測結果也表明，看著美麗畫作的人對疼痛的反應會減慢。

眾所周知，采用分散注意力的方法可以減輕病人的痛苦，比如音樂，而托馬索教授稱，這項研究首次證實了美麗的畫面也具有同樣功效。

此外，這項在《新科學家》上發表的研究進一步證實：優美的外界環境有助于緩解病痛。

這位神經學專家稱：“醫院的設計主要以功能性為主，但我們認為也要考慮美觀這一因素。”

“很顯然，美麗的畫作能夠分散病人的注意力，而難看的作品則不具備這一功效，不過現在還沒有研究表明丑陋的外界環境會加重病人的痛苦。

“這些發現表明我們還需開展更多的研究，來探究美麗的環境是如何減輕病痛的。”

受訪者最喜愛的畫作包括：文森特•凡高的《星夜》和波特切利的《維納斯的誕生》，而他們認為難看的畫作則出自保羅•畢加索、20世紀意大利畫家阿諾尼奧•布爾諾和哥倫比亞畫家費爾南多•布特羅之手。

托馬索教授說：“這些人不是藝術家，所以一些他們認為難看的作品其實都是世界名作。”