The experiment is done on healthy participants aged 18-35
Conditions
Interventions
Participants in the nocebo group receive a verbal suggestion stating that the third (sham) electrode will increase the intensity of the pain stimuli depending on the colors (conditioned cue) that are
Sponsors
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Eligibility
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Healthy adults age 18-35; sensitivity to electrical pain (reaching a pain level that takes some effort to tolerate before reaching the max current of 8mA and can discriminate between the high and medium intensity stimuli)
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Diagnosed conditions associated with chronic pain (pain lasting at least three months); diagnosed psychiatric or neurological conditions; drug use of more than 3 times a month; disabilities in the upper body; colorblindness; use of pacemaker; pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Difference in average pain scores (on a scale of 0 to 10) between the conditioned cue trials and control cue trials during the test phase; Proportion of participants that select the avoidance task (the difficult game). | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Individual factors such as state anxiety, pain catastrophizing, pain vigilance and awareness, fear of pain, aversiveness of stimuli, stimulus related fear and pain expectations regarding the stimuli, whether the expectations matched the actual experience, and game difficulty are also assessed for exploratory purposes. | — |
Contacts
Public ContactAndrea Evers
Leiden University
Outcome results
None listed