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Take part in our research study into how we experience pain

Volunteer to take part in our research study into how we experience pain when caused by ourselves or others.

Our research

During this study, we'll explore how pain is experienced when caused by voluntary and involuntary actions from both individual and outside sources. We hope that this will help us to develop more effective behavioural-based pain management methods.

What you'll do

This research study is made up of three experiments. You can take part in as many as you choose.

  • Experiment 1: detect how sensitive and how tolerant you are to multiple sensations (such as temperature changes, pressure and touch)
  • Experiment 2: learn how you perceive pain (such as when it happens and how you feel about it, how intense, how (un)pleasant, etc.)
  • Experiment 3: examine whether self-inflicted pain is less painful and whether avoiding watching the cause(s) makes it better or worse

During each experiment, you will complete a series of questionnaires and take part in lab-based tasks involving non-harmful, transient pain. You will be guided through the process by a member of the team and can stop the tasks at any point.

Eligibility

To take part in this study, you must:

  • be 18-years-old or older
  • not have any heart conditions
  • not be pregnant
  • not be experiencing any pain
  • not have any known medical conditions (such as epilepsy, eczema, asthma, or sensitive skin), that may cause adverse effects from pain induction tasks
  • not be taking any medication (apart from contraceptives)

What you'll get for taking part

There are three experiments involved in this study (you can take part in all three). On completion of each, you will receive:

  • £15 for experiment 1
  • £20 for experiment 2
  • £15 for experiment 3

Deadline to apply

We are recruiting for this study until 21 December 2023.

Your information

All information collected about you during the research will be stored securely on the University of Bath's servers. It will be kept strictly confidential and only accessed by the research team involved in this study.

Any information about you that goes into any reports will have your details removed so you cannot be identified.

You are free to request the withdrawal of your information within two weeks of participation.

Ethics approval

This research has been reviewed and approved by the University of Bath Biomedical Science Research Ethics Committee (Ref. 0202-1080).

Take part in this study

If you are interested in taking part in this study, please contact us.