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Lack of predictive power of trait fear and anxiety for conditioned pain modulation (CPM)

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Abstract

In recent years the association of conditioned pain modulation (CPM) with trait fear and anxiety has become a hot topic in pain research due to the assumption that such variables may explain the low CPM efficiency in some individuals. However, empirical evidence concerning this association is still equivocal. Our study is the first to investigate the predictive power of fear and anxiety for CPM by using a well-established psycho-physiological measure of trait fear, i.e. startle potentiation, in addition to two self-report measures of pain-related trait anxiety. Forty healthy, pain-free participants (female: N = 20; age: M = 23.62 years) underwent two experimental blocks in counter-balanced order: (1) a startle paradigm with affective picture presentation and (2) a CPM procedure with hot water as conditioning stimulus (CS) and contact heat as test stimulus (TS). At the end of the experimental session, pain catastrophizing (PCS) and pain anxiety (PASS) were assessed. PCS score, PASS score and startle potentiation to threatening pictures were entered as predictors in a linear regression model with CPM magnitude as criterion. We were able to show an inhibitory CPM effect in our sample: pain ratings of the heat stimuli were significantly reduced during hot water immersion. However, CPM was neither predicted by self-report of pain-related anxiety nor by startle potentiation as psycho-physiological measure of trait fear. These results corroborate previous negative findings concerning the association between trait fear/anxiety and CPM efficiency and suggest that shifting the focus from trait to state measures might be promising.

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Notes

  1. The IAPS identification numbers were as follows: Erotic pictures: 4652, 4659, 4660, 4670, 4687, 4695; Attack pictures: 1120, 1300, 1525, 6250.1, 6300, 6510; Pain-related pictures: 3010, 3180, 3261, 3350, 9253, 9410; Neutral pictures: 2200, 5120, 5534, 7002, 7031, 7150.

  2. We translated the PCS into German, using a standard “forward–backward” procedure. Only if the resulting backward English version was very similar to the original version according to the evaluation of an English native speaker, translation accuracy was considered sufficient.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a research grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (La 685/13-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiological Psychology, Otto-Friedrich-University of Bamberg, Markusplatz 3, Bamberg, Germany

    Claudia Horn-Hofmann, Janosch A. Priebe, Jörg Schaller, Rüdiger Görlitz & Stefan Lautenbacher

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  1. Claudia Horn-Hofmann
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  2. Janosch A. Priebe
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Correspondence to Claudia Horn-Hofmann.

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Horn-Hofmann, C., Priebe, J.A., Schaller, J. et al. Lack of predictive power of trait fear and anxiety for conditioned pain modulation (CPM). Exp Brain Res 234, 3649–3658 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4763-9

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