Study of Brain Responses to Pain and Placebo Cream Effects Using Thermal Stimulation and fMRI

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying how the brain processes thermal pain across different body sites and how a placebo cream affects this experience. The study aims to understand brain activity related to pain sensation, unpleasantness, and location, both before and during painful thermal stimulation. This research explores psychological influences on pain, including anxiety and placebo effects, to improve pain management and therapy. Participants will undergo two hours of functional MRI scanning. In the first hour, they will experience painful heat and non-painful warmth at eight body sites and listen to an aversive sound to isolate neural signatures of pain components. During the second hour, participants will receive either a placebo cream described as analgesic or a control cream described as having no effect, applied to one of the body sites, followed by thermal pain tasks to assess brain responses. Throughout the study, participants will complete pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings using the Bartoshuk Labeled Magnitude Scale after each pain delivery. Brain activity related to pain sensation, aversiveness, and somatotopy will be measured using fMRI. The study includes monitoring for safety and cream tolerance, with total participation lasting the duration of the imaging sessions.

The Warmth, Anticipation, Sensation, Aversion, and Body-part Imaging Study