Pain is an evolutionarily adaptive mechanism that motivates the initiation of defensive actions to protect the body. The central nervous system is organized to anticipate potential pain and to adjust behavior before the risk of bodily harm becomes critical. For example, when a movement repeatedly generates pain, the ability to anticipate this, and establish protective strategies during motor preparation, should help avoiding pain and bodily harm. However, empirical validation of this idea is lacking.  The overall aim of this project is developing an innovative fundamental research program examining systematically, if and how, motor preparation processes in the brain support behavioral adaptation to anticipated pain during goal-directed action. A series of studies with experimentally induced pain in healthy volunteers performing goal-directed movements in a virtual reality environment is proposed to tackle this aim, integrating behavioral and neurophysiological methods.