Papers of the Week

Efficacy of pain modulation is assessed as the difference in pain sensitivity during a painful conditioning, compared to before (conditioning pain modulation, CPM). Attention can be assessed with the Stroop-task, in which participants report the number of words on a screen; either congruent or incongruent with the value of the words. Attention away from painful stimuli during CPM enhances the CPM-effect. However, it is unknown if attention influences CPM-effects when the two are done in sequence.