Nocebo Reduction: Counterconditioning in Part 2
pain
Participants allocated to the counterconditioning group were instructed that during this part of the experiment, they would be conditioned to expect to receive no pain instead of moderate pain when the DNS device is activated. This would be achieved by administering a nonpainful pressure stimulus during the sham activation of the device. The device (de)activation procedure was similar to part 1; except that this time a nonpainful pressure stimulus, instead of a moderately painful one, was paired with the text “DNS on” during half of the 20 learning trials and with a slightly painful pressure stimulus during the other half. During all 6 testing phase trials, only slightly painful pressure stimuli were administered unbeknownst to the participants regardless of DNS activation in half of the testing trials.