Classical conditioning of analgesic and hyperalgesic pain responses without conscious awareness

摘要: Pain reduction and enhancement can be produced by means of conditioning procedures, yet the role awareness during acquisition stage classical is unknown. We used psychophysical measures to establish whether conditioned analgesic hyperalgesic responses could acquired unseen (subliminally presented) stimuli. A 2 × factorial design, including subliminal/supraliminal exposures stimuli (CS) acquisition/extinction, was used. Results showed significant (P < 0.001), were independent CS awareness, as cues acquisition/extinction led comparable outcomes. The effect significantly larger for than 0.001). demonstrate that conscious not required either or extinction analgesia hyperalgesia. Our results support notion nonconscious have a pervasive on human brain function behavior may affect learning complex cognitive processes such psychologically mediated responses.