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All of the volunteers were injected on the underside of their forearms with a chemical known to cause a certain amount of itching

It also causes a small red bump to appear. Each of the volunteers had a similar looking dot printed in the same location on their other arm

The experiment consisted of scratching each of the volunteers individually on the actual injection site and on the site of the non-injected red mark on the other arm

querying them as to whether the scratching provided any relief

None of the volunteers reported receiving any relief from the scratching on the non-injected arm and all reported relief from scratching on the read injection site.

Next, all of the volunteers were placed individually in a position with a mirror between their arms—the arm with the chemical injection was hidden from view—the refection of the other arm took its place.

Once in place, the volunteers were asked to focus their attention on the red dot on their arm—the one drawn there by the researchers—as the researchers once again scratched both of the red marks

After this

all of the volunteers reported some degree of relief from the itching when the non-injected spot was scratched, and also, of course when the real site was scratched, despite it being out of their view.

The amount of relief felt on the non-injected site wasn't equal to the real site, of course—all told it amounted to approximately 25 percent of the real deal

This indicates, the researchers claim, that visual cues can oftentimes override information from other senses when there is conflicting information.