Mia Thomaidou

130 Figure 2. NRS pain ratings for the first nocebo and the first control trial of the first evocation. Mean Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) pain ratings and standard deviations are depicted across all groups (N = 122). Dots represent the (jittered) individual data points. In both the partial reinforcement and the continuous reinforcement groups, evocation pain reports during nocebo trials were significantly higher than pain reports during control trials. Sham conditioning, as expected, did not induce nocebo hyperalgesia. Conditioning with partial reinforcement yielded a significantly smaller nocebo effect than conditioning with continuous reinforcement. Attenuated nocebo hyperalgesia Counterconditioning vs extinction The mean reduction and mean magnitudes of reported nocebo hyperalgesia after attenuation are listed in Table 2. To examine whether counterconditioning was more effective than extinction in attenuating Trial Nocebo Control Partial reinforcement Continuous reinforcement Sham NRS score 7 8 9

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