Sneezing in response to light

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Abstract
The features of photic sneezing were investigated by intensive interviews with 6 psychiatric residents who had observed the reflex in themselves. The incidence of the reflex was investigated in 75 hospital patients by interviews and in 343 students from 3 educational institutions by questionnaires. The incidence of self-observed photic sneezing was significantly higher among white males than among Negro males (x2 = 12. 28, p.. 001) and among white females than among Negro females (x2 = 5. 94, p <. 02.). It was significantly higher in white males vs. females (X2 =4. 71, p<. 05). It was also higher among those white men or women who had noted the reflex in their families vs. those who had not (x2 = 15. 77, p<. 001). It is concluded that heredity is a large factor predisposing to the reflex. Physiological mechanisms for the reflex are postulated. Sneezing and nasal congestion are known to be set off by a wide variety of physical and emotional stimuli, but a physiological common denominator may be found in parasympathetic excitation. A number of common disorders thought to have a large psychosomatic component, such as peptic ulcer, asthma, and colitis, appear to result from the effects of parasympathetic hyperactivity upon constitutionally susceptible tissues. One might wonder (1) whether "parasympathetically hyperactive" individuals possess characteristic emotional or personality features and (2) whether susceptibility to the photic sneeze reflex could be used as evidence for such parasympathetic hyperactivity.

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