Conceptual Conditioning: Mechanisms Mediating Conditioning Effects on Pain.

ABSTRACT: Classical conditioning can profoundly modify subsequent pain responses, but the mechanisms that drive this effect are unresolved. In pain-conditioning studies, cues are typically conditioned to primary aversive reinforcers; hence, subsequent pain modulation could reflect learned precognitive associations (i.e., those involving neural plasticity independent of expectations and other forms of conceptual thought) or conceptual expectancies. We isolated conceptual contributions using a thermal pain-conditioning procedure in which different conditioned stimulus (CS) cues were repeatedly paired with symbolic representations of high and low noxious heat. In a subsequent test phase, identical noxious stimuli evoked larger skin conductance responses (SCRs) and pain ratings when preceded by CS cues

SUBMITTER: Jepma M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4646733 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature