Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39242740›Full record

ArticleCommunications psychology2024

Interpersonal physiological and psychological synchrony predict the social transmission of nocebo hyperalgesia between individuals.

Rodela Mostafa, Nicolas Andrew McNair, Winston Tan, Cosette Saunders, Ben Colagiuri, Kirsten Barnes

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Communications psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Positive social modeling attenuates nocebo side effects.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2025
    Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Rodela MostafaSchool of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Nicolas Andrew McNairSchool of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0956-4948
Winston TanSchool of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4821-7877
Cosette SaundersSchool of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2702-9044
Ben ColagiuriSchool of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Kirsten BarnesSchool of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. kirsten.barnes@unsw.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8328-3998

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Witnessing another's pain can heighten pain in the observer. However, research has focused on the observer's intrapersonal experience. Here, a social transmission-chain explored the spread of socially-acquired nocebo hyperalgesia. Dyads of genuine participants were randomised to 'Generations' (G1-G3). G1-Demonstrators, observed by G2-Observers, experienced high/low thermal pain contingent on supposed activity/inactivity of a sham-treatment. G2 became Demonstrators, witnessed by G3-Observers. They experienced fixed low-temperature stimuli irrespective of sham-treatment 'activity'. G3 then Demonstrated for G4-Observers (a confederate), also experiencing low-temperature stimuli only. Pain ratings, electrodermal activity, and facial action units were measured. G1's treatment-related pain propagated throughout the chain. G2 and G3 participants showed heightened subjective and physiological response to sham-treatment, despite equivalent stimulus temperatures, and G3 never witnessing the initial pain-event. Dyadic interpersonal physiological synchrony (electrodermal activity) and psychological synchrony (Observer's ability to predict the Demonstrator's pain), predicted subsequent socially-acquired pain. Implications relate to the interpersonal spread of maladaptive pain experiences.

Identifiers

PMID39242740
PMCPMC11332037

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.