Differential Classical Conditioning of the Nocebo Effect: Increasing Heat-Pain Perception without Verbal Suggestions

[摘要] Background: Nocebo effects, including nocebo hyperalgesia, are a common phenomenon in clinical routine with manifold negative consequences. Both explicit expectations and learning by conditioning are known to induce nocebo effects, but the specific role of conditioning remains unclear, because conditioning is rarely implemented independent of verbal suggestions. Further, although pain is a multidimensional phenomenon, nocebo effects are usually assessed in subjective ratings only, neglecting, e.g., behavioral aspects. The aim of this study was to test whether nocebo hyperalgesia can be learned by conditioning without explicit expectations, to assess nocebo effects in different response channels, and to exploratively assess, whether contingency awareness is a necessary condition for conditioned nocebo hyperalgesia.

[学科分类] 心理学（综合）

[关键词] nocebo effect;classical conditioning;implicit learning;behavioral psychology;awareness;heat-pain