The Neurobiology of Expectancy and Pain Perception

A Brain Imaging Study of the Analgesic Effect of Lidocaine and the Hyperalgesic Effect of Capsaicin

This study will use using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to elucidate how contextual learning/expectation relieves or aggravates pain experience in the same cohort of subjects and the same study session.

Inclusion Criteria:

• a) Healthy male and female adults aged 21-50
• b) No contraindications to fMRI scanning
• c) Right handed

Exclusion Criteria:

• a) Current or past history of major medical, neurological, or psychiatric illness
• b) Pregnancy or breast feeding, menopause, and irregular menstrual cycles (length of cycle must be within 26 to 32 days)
• c) Claustrophobia
• d) History of head trauma
• e) History of impaired elimination
• f) Instability of responses to experimental pain (see Study Procedures Section)
• g) Use of psychotropic drugs, hormone treatments (including hormonal birth control) within 1 year
• h) Non-fluent speaker of English