Trial reportPloS one2010
When the sun prickles your nose: an EEG study identifying neural bases of photic sneezing.
Trial report in PloS one, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- The sneezing reflex: neurophysiology, neuroimmune pathways and clinical disorders.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2026Review
- Reflex syncope due to exaggerated cardioinhibitory vagal response to photic stimulation: a case report.European heart journal. Case reports · 2025Article
- Development and validation of the Interoceptive States Vocalisations (ISV) and Interoceptive States Point Light Displays (ISPLD) databases.Behavior research methods · 2025Article
- Stimulus conditions eliciting sneezing in response to bright light.Experimental brain research · 2025Review
- Sneezing in response to naturalistic bright light exposure.F1000Research · 2025Article
- The sneeze reflex in physiological and pathological states: a mini review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Planktonic sea urchin larvae change their swimming direction in response to strong photoirradiation.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Investigations on the prevalence of the photo-induced sneezing reflex in the German population, a representative cross-sectional study.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2017Article
- The problem of thresholding in small-world network analysis.PloS one · 2013Article
- Functional brain network efficiency predicts intelligence.Human brain mapping · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundExposure to bright light such as sunlight elicits a sneeze or prickling sensation in about one of every four individuals. This study presents the first scientific examination of this phenomenon, called 'the photic sneeze reflex'. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL
findingsIn the present experiment, 'photic sneezers' and controls were exposed to a standard checkerboard stimulus (block 1) and bright flashing lights (block 2) while their EEG (electro-encephalogram) was recorded. Remarkably, we found a generally enhanced excitability of the visual cortex (mainly in the cuneus) to visual stimuli in 'photic sneezers' compared with control subjects. In addition, a stronger prickling sensation in the nose of photic sneezers was found to be associated with activation in the insula and stronger activation in the secondary somatosensory cortex.
conclusionWe propose that the photic sneeze phenomenon might be the consequence of higher sensitivity to visual stimuli in the visual cortex and of co-activation of somatosensory areas. The 'photic sneeze reflex' is therefore not a classical reflex that occurs only at a brainstem or spinal cord level but, in stark contrast to many theories, involves also specific cortical areas.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.