NCT05570695

How do Alpha Oscillations Shape the Perception of Pain? - An EEG-based Neurofeedback Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 75 (actual)
• Sponsor: Technical University of Munich · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Pain is closely linked to alpha oscillations (8 -13 Hz) which are thought to represent a supra-modal, top-down mediated gating mechanism that shapes sensory processing. Consequently, alpha oscillations might also shape the cerebral processing of nociceptive input and eventually the perception of pain. To test this mechanistic hypothesis, the investigators designed a sham-controlled and double-blind electroencephalography (EEG)-based neurofeedback study. In a short-term neurofeedback training protocol, healthy participants will learn to up- and downregulate somatosensory alpha oscillations using attention. Subsequently, the investigators will investigate how this manipulation impacts experimental pain applied during neurofeedback. Using Bayesian statistics and mediation analysis, the investigators will test whether alpha oscillations mediate attention effects on pain perception. This approach promises causal insights into the role of alpha oscillations in shaping pain, and thereby extends previous correlative evidence. Beyond, it can aid the development of novel, non-invasive modulatory treatment approaches for chronic pain, which are urgently needed. The prosed study protocol has been granted in-principle acceptance from PLOS Biology and the corresponding registration can be found at the OSF online repository \[www.osf.io/qbkj2\].

Conditions

• Experimental Pain in Healthy Human Subjects

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	attention right training, ARTNF	In a first verum neurofeedback condition, participants will be instructed to focus attention on their right hand and the up-regulation of alpha oscillations in the right hemisphere relative to alpha oscillations in the left hemisphere will be incentivized through neurofeedback.
BEHAVIORAL	attention left training, ALTNF	In a second verum neurofeedback condition, participants will be instructed to focus attention on their left hand and the down-regulation of right relative to left alpha oscillations will be incentivized.
BEHAVIORAL	sham attention right training, ARTsham	During the first sham neurofeedback condition, participants will be instructed to focus attention on their right hand. However, the feedback signal will not mirror their brain activity. Instead, the feedback signal and the corresponding reward of the last matching verum condition completed by a previous participant, i.e., ARTNF for ARTsham, will be replayed (yoked feedback).
BEHAVIORAL	sham attention left training, ALTsham	During the second sham neurofeedback condition, participants will be instructed to focus attention on their left hand. However, the feedback signal will not mirror their brain activity. Instead, the feedback signal and the corresponding reward of the last matching verum condition completed by a previous participant, i.e., ALTNF for ALTsham, will be replayed (yoked feedback).

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-10-01
• Primary completion: 2023-12-31
• Completion: 2023-12-31
• First posted: 2022-10-07
• Last updated: 2024-07-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany