Sabbatical Johan Vlaeyen: COBOS: COnditioning of BOdlily Symptoms

In my sabbatical period, I would first of all like to present and consolidate the research results of the past 15 years from the Odysseus program “The psychology of pain and disability” and the Methusalem program “Asthenes: From acute aversive sensations to chronic bodily symptoms”  (Review). In addition, I mainly want to focus on the “Next steps” in this fascinating and challenging research area (Preview). Review: - Writing a state-of-the-art review on the acquisition, generalization and extinction of fear of physical discomfort (potential journals: Trends in Cognitive Science; Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Review, Nature Reviews Neuroscience…) Preview: - Organizing a international symposium with the theme: “The conditioning of bodily sensations: conditions and boundaries”. The aim is to bring together current international knowledge and expertise. Such a symposium fits in seamlessly with the FWO working community “PAIN: Pain, Action and INTERference”, which has recently been extended by 5 years (2021-2026), of which I am a co-founder. - Set up a new research program (provisional title: COBOS – Conditioning of BOdily Sensations), which will be characterized by a substantive shift from the (associative) learning of “fear” of physical sensations and symptoms, to the (associative) learning of the physical sensations and symptoms themselves. The aim is to receive an ERC Advanced grant application in 2022 or 2023.