Placebo hypoalgesia induced by operant conditioning: a comparative study on the effects of verbal, token-based, and social rewards and punishers.

ABSTRACT: Operant conditioning was shown to be a mechanism of placebo hypoalgesia; however, only verbal rewards and punishers were applied in the previous study. We aimed to induce placebo hypoalgesia using more clinically relevant consequences: token-based and social. Participants were divided into three experimental groups (with verbal, social, and token-based rewards and punishers); and two control groups (with and without placebo application). During operant conditioning, participants in the experimental groups received thermal stimuli of equal intensity and were rewarded for reporting lower pain and punished for reporting higher pain compared to their pretest pain levels. The control groups did not receive any consequences. Our results revealed placebo hypoalgesia was induced by operant conditi

SUBMITTER: Bieniek H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10663593 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature