What If Awareness Isn’t Required to Feel More Pain?

Dear supporter,

Chronic pain can haunt people long after physical injuries fade.

But what if pain itself could be unconsciously learned—and worsened—even without our awareness?

A groundbreaking study published in Consciousness and Cognition reveals that implicit operant learning (learning without conscious awareness) can actually increase pain sensitivity.

In other words: the brain may be trained to feel more pain without the person ever realizing they’re learning to do so.

Researchers found that individuals didn't need to be aware they were participating in a learning task, nor understand the link between their behavior and reinforcement. Even without this knowledge, their nervous systems adapted—sensitizing them to pain over time.

This is a radical shift in how we understand trauma and chronic pain. It's not just what we remember that hurts us—it's what our bodies learn beneath the surface.

At MyWhatIf, this research fuels our mission to create AI tools that address pain and trauma on all levels: conscious and unconscious. Our platform is being designed to gently interrupt these hidden learning patterns, offering micro-interventions to rewire responses and promote healing.

💡 When you support us, you're helping develop tools that go beyond talk therapy—to meet survivors where they are, even in silence.

🔗 Read the study: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2012.03.008

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810012000657?via%3Dihub

With care,
The MyWhatIf Team

Omer Golan, 
Founder and CEO

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