Neural Mechanisms Underlying Attentional Bias Modification in Fibromyalgia Patients: a Double-blind ERP Study

Detailed Summary

There is a growing interest in the potential benefits of attentional bias modification (ABM) training in chronic pain patients. However, studies examining the effectiveness of ABM programs in fibromyalgia patients have demonstrated inconclusive effects on both behavioral indices and clinical symptoms. Underlying neural dynamics of ABM effects could yield additional insights but remain yet unexplored. Current study, therefore, aimed investigating the effects of ABM training on known neural indicators of attentional bias to pain using electroencephalography (EEG). The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effects of ABM training on known neural indicators of attentional bias to pain using electroencephalography (EEG) in fibromyalgia patients The main question\[s\] it aims to answer are: * Are fibromyalgia patients sensitive to ABM procedures? * What are the neural indices associated with ABM procedures? * Do ABM procedures transfer of effects on the clinical symptomatology in fibromyalgia patients? Participants will performes five sessions consisting of a modified dot-probe task in which patients were trained to avoid facial pain expressions, whereas in the control group participants will performes five sessions consisting of a standard dot-probe task. Potential ABM training effects will be evaluated by comparing a single pre- and post-treatment session, in which event-related potentials (ERPs) will be recorded in response to three experimental tasks (standard dot-probe, RIR, and visual tasks). Furthermore, patients will fill a series of self-report questionnaires assessing anxiety, depression, pain-related worrying, fear of pain, fatigue and pain status. Researchers will compare two fibromyalgia patients groups that will enrolled and randomly assigned to an ABM training in order to see attentional improvements in the training fibromyalgia group.

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