WASHINGTON: Over-the-counter pain medicines such as Ibuprofen may influence how people process information, experience hurt feelings, and react to emotionally evocative images, research has found.

In a study published in the journal Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, scientists reviewed previous research suggesting that over-the-counter pain medicine may influence individuals emotions.

Led by Kyle Ratner, researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the US, the team found that, women who took a dose of ibuprofen reported less hurt feelings from emotionally painful experiences, such as being excluded from a game. Men showed the opposite pattern.