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PSYCHOLOGY

Subtle cues transmit placebo effects

Nature Human Behaviour volume 3, pages 1246–1247 (2019)Cite this article

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We have known for a while that different doctors can produce different effects using the same substance, or even placebo, such that otherwise effective treatments might become ineffective or placebo becomes effective. Chang and colleagues now clarify that such differential effects are likely transmitted by subtle facial cues, using a placebo–pain model.

Placebo research has morphed from a fringe to a mainstream topic over the last years. Placebo effects might be the main reason why a lot of conventional and unconventional pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments work1,2. Especially since the first brain imaging studies have shown that placebo-effects are not only not imaginary but are associated with changes in major neurotransmitter systems in the brain3,4,5, even sceptics have started to understand that the measurable effects of molecules on receptors are only half the therapeutic effect in most diseases except in comatose, unconscious or demented patients. Research has subsequently clarified that expectancy effects and conditioning are responsible for such effects. Even open placebo administration, i.e., placebo provided with full knowledge of patients that they are being given placebo, shows statistically and clinically significant effects6. We also know that individual experimenters produce different results in experimental studies, whether with humans7 or with animals8. But we do not know exactly how such effects are transmitted. This is where a new study in Nature Human Behaviour steps in. Chang and colleagues at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire have tackled this question with an elegant experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Poznan Medical University, Dept. Pediatric Gastroenterology, Poznan, Poland

    Harald Walach

  2. University Witten-Herdecke, Dept. Psychology, Witten, Germany

    Harald Walach

  3. Change Health Science Institute, Berlin, Germany

    Harald Walach

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  1. Harald Walach
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Correspondence to Harald Walach.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Walach, H. Subtle cues transmit placebo effects. Nat Hum Behav 3, 1246–1247 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0745-9

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