Letting loose with a swear word may actually make you stronger

New research provides evidence that repeating a swear word can increase grip strength and activate motivational brain systems, but it does not appear to dampen the brain’s response to errors. The study, published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, replicated previous findings that swearing tends to enhance physical performance and emotional engagement. It also found that swearing increased activation in a motivational system called the behavioral approach system. But contrary to expectations, it did not reduce a neural signal known as the error-related negativity, which had been proposed as a possible indicator of temporary disinhibition.

Swearing often carries strong emotional charge, and previous studies have shown that it can blunt pain and even improve physical performance. A possible explanation is that swearing temporarily loosens behavioral restraints, making people more focused on action and less preoccupied with monitoring themselves. This short-term state, referred to as “state disinhibition,” may increase emotional arousal and free up energy to put toward the task at hand.

Earlier studies suggested swearing might lead to greater strength output, possibly by activating parts of the nervous system associated with emotion and motivation. But the underlying brain mechanisms have remained unclear. In particular, the research team was interested in whether swearing affects the brain’s ability to monitor errors—something that typically involves a signal called error-related negativity, or ERN.

The ERN is a burst of electrical activity that appears in the brain shortly after a person makes a mistake. It’s thought to reflect the brain’s internal monitoring system and is often larger when people are more focused on accuracy or more anxious about making errors. If swearing leads to disinhibition, the researchers predicted, the ERN might shrink—suggesting that people are less concerned with monitoring their behavior.

The researchers recruited 52 participants, mostly university students, and used a within-subjects design. Each participant completed the same set of tasks under two different conditions: one involving the repeated use of a self-chosen swear word (such as “fuck” or “shit”), and the other involving a neutral word (like “wood” or “flat”).

Free daily newsletter

Participants began each trial by repeating their assigned word out loud for 10 seconds. After this, they completed a grip strength task, squeezing a dynamometer as hard as possible with their dominant hand. They also performed a flanker task, which involves identifying the direction of an arrow while ignoring distracting arrows flanking it. This task is often used to study attentional control and produces enough mistakes to measure the ERN using electroencephalography, or EEG.

In addition to grip strength and EEG measurements, participants completed several questionnaires after each condition. These assessed emotional states, distraction, novelty, humor, anxiety, self-confidence, and something called the behavioral activation system, which is linked to motivation and goal pursuit. A specific focus was placed on one subscale of this system, known as BAS Drive, which measures how strongly a person feels compelled to pursue a goal.

As expected, participants tended to show stronger grip force after repeating a swear word compared to a neutral word. On average, their strength increased by about 1.4 kilograms. This aligns with earlier studies and supports the idea that swearing can lead to a short-term physical boost.

Swearing also appeared to alter emotional and motivational states. Participants reported higher levels of positive emotion, greater distraction, and more humor during the swearing condition. These effects are consistent with previous findings suggesting that swearing makes people feel more energized and emotionally engaged.

Importantly, swearing significantly increased scores on the BAS Drive scale. This suggests that swearing boosts the urge to pursue a goal or take action—an effect that fits with the idea that it triggers a motivational shift toward goal-oriented behavior. However, other subscales related to fun-seeking and reward sensitivity did not show significant changes, and there was no clear evidence that swearing decreased behavioral inhibition system scores.

The expected effects on the brain’s error-monitoring signal were not observed. Contrary to predictions, the amplitude of the ERN did not decrease after swearing. This means the brain’s internal response to making mistakes remained just as strong whether participants had sworn or not. Because the ERN was thought to reflect behavioral monitoring, its stability across conditions raises questions about whether swearing truly reduces self-monitoring in the way the researchers had hypothesized.

A mediation analysis also showed that changes in ERN amplitude did not explain the link between swearing and increased grip strength.

The findings support the idea that swearing can temporarily boost performance and alter emotional and motivational states. Increased grip strength, greater humor, more positive emotion, and higher BAS Drive all point toward a short-term shift in the brain’s motivational systems following swearing.

But the lack of change in the ERN signal challenges the assumption that swearing reduces behavioral monitoring. It’s possible that the ERN isn’t as sensitive to temporary disinhibition as once believed, or that the swearing effect on disinhibition doesn’t last long enough to influence the ERN, which was measured several minutes after the vocalization task.

Another possibility is that swearing affects some motivational circuits more than others. For example, the increased BAS Drive suggests a sharpening of goal-oriented behavior, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the brain’s conflict-monitoring system shuts down.

Interestingly, although swearing increased positive emotion, it also slightly raised self-reported negative emotion. The researchers suggest this may reflect anger rather than anxiety, which would still fit the picture of heightened emotional arousal and motivation.

The researchers note several factors that could have influenced the results. One key concern is the timing of the tasks. The flanker task and EEG measurements came after the swearing phase, and it’s possible that any disinhibiting effects had worn off by the time ERN was recorded. In future studies, a faster timeline or repeated swearing during the task might help detect subtle neural changes.

The sample size, while adequate for behavioral analysis, was relatively small for EEG research. Additionally, some participants had to be excluded due to technical issues or unusable EEG data. This further reduced statistical power, especially for more subtle effects like changes in ERN amplitude.

Another limitation is the reliance on a self-report measure for state motivation. While the BAS Drive scale provided useful information, it may not capture all relevant aspects of disinhibition or brain activity. More direct physiological or neuroimaging measures might help in future studies.

The findings also raise questions about how long the effects of swearing last, and whether they generalize across different tasks or populations. It’s still unclear whether swearing would produce similar effects in older adults, in more stressful environments, or when used repeatedly over time.

The study provides further support for the idea that swearing can temporarily enhance physical strength and increase motivational states like drive and positive emotion. These effects are consistent with the theory that swearing brings about a short-term state of disinhibition. However, the expected dampening of the brain’s error-monitoring signal was not observed, casting some doubt on whether swearing truly reduces behavioral self-monitoring at the neural level.

While the findings suggest that swearing has psychological and physiological effects that can influence performance, more work is needed to understand the precise neural mechanisms involved. Future studies might explore how long these effects last, whether they generalize across contexts, and how best to measure momentary shifts in behavioral inhibition and conflict monitoring.

The study, “The effect of swearing on error-related negativity as an indicator for state disinhibition,” was authored by Venja Beck, Joseph L Brooks, and Richard Stephens.