Neural and behavioral mechanisms of appetitive and aversive pain-related learning in chronic back pain patients and healthy participants

Neural and behavioral mechanisms of appetitive and aversive pain-related learning in chronic back pain patients and healthy participants - AALearn

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

DRKS

Registry ID

DRKS00027448

Enrollment

144

Registered

2022-02-01

Start date

2019-01-04

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2026-03-30

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

M54.9

Interventions

Group 1: Patients with chronic back pain. Patients will perform the same experimental task as the healthy control participants. There will be no intervention. Group 2: Healthy control participants

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to 80 Years

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: For both groups: Age >=18 and <=80 years; normal or corrected-to-normal vision; right-handedness. Additionally for the patient group: Nonspecific remitting or persistent back pain that has been present for at least 12 weeks.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: For both groups: Acute infections; participation in studies with investigational drugs (within the last three months); alcohol consumption within the last 24 hours; usual exclusion criteria for MRI examinations, e.g., metallic or electromagnetic parts in the body; skin diseases or other visible signs of acute dermatological abnormalities; malignant diseases; regular use of recreational drugs. For patient group: severe mental disorders (e.g., major depression, psychosis, schizophrenia); opioid treatment with more than 100 mg morphine equivalent/day (any other treatment must be constant before study participation). For control group: current or past internal medical conditions; neurological and mental illnesses; pain disorders; use of analgesics within the past 24 hours.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Development of valence ratings of conditioned stimuli (CS) over the acquisition phase, extinction phase, and reinstatement phase using a visual analog scale with the anchors very pleasant (-50), neutral (0) and very unpleasant (50).	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Contingency ratings CS-US coupling after acquisition and extinction phases, pain intensity and (un)pleasantness ratings of the unconditioned stimuli (US, temperature stimuli), electrodermal activity (skin conductance response) to CS and US, neural activity (BOLD response) on CS and US. Exploratory outcomes include questionnaire data on personality traits and pain-related cognitions. These include: - State and Trait Anxiety and Depression - Stress - Pain Anxiety - Pain Catastrophizing	—

Measure

Time frame

Contingency ratings CS-US coupling after acquisition and extinction phases, pain intensity and (un)pleasantness ratings of the unconditioned stimuli (US, temperature stimuli), electrodermal activity (skin conductance response) to CS and US, neural activity (BOLD response) on CS and US. Exploratory outcomes include questionnaire data on personality traits and pain-related cognitions. These include: - State and Trait Anxiety and Depression - Stress - Pain Anxiety - Pain Catastrophizing

—

Countries

Germany

Contacts

Public ContactKatharina Schmidt

Universitätsklinikum Essen

katharina.schmidt@uk-essen.de00492017232446

Outcome results

None listed

Source: DRKS (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Apr 4, 2026