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The Warmth, Anticipation, Sensation, Aversion, and Body-part Imaging Study
Sponsor: Trustees of Dartmouth College
Summary
This functional magnetic-resonance imaging study of the brain will feature a within-subject crossover design to investigate the effects of a placebo cream on painful thermal stimulation rendered upon eight body sites. The investigators aim to 1.) improve the understanding of how the brain represents thermal pain responses somatotopically (i.e., across different body-sites) 2.) to test these brain representations with and without the presence of a pain-targeted placebo intervention, and 3.) to examine how these brain representations change prior to vs. during the delivery of thermal pain. They predict that placebo cream will downregulate the intensity of aversive brain activity representations, and to a lesser degree, sensation and somatotopic representations, both prior to and during painful thermal stimulation.
Official title: Placebo Effects on Anxiety and Pain
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
150
Start Date
2021-03-19
Completion Date
2026-12-26
Last Updated
2026-01-14
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Conditions
Interventions
Placebo Cream
Approximately 1 teaspoon of exfoliating skin scrub delivered approximately 5 minutes prior to pain tasks will coincide with verbal descriptors of the cream as being analgesic.
Control Cream
Approximately 1 teaspoon of exfoliating skin scrub delivered approximately 5 minutes prior to pain tasks will coincide with verbal descriptors of the cream as one of no effect.
Locations (1)
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire, United States