ArticlePloS one2014
Role of conditioning and verbal suggestion in placebo and nocebo effects on itch.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Placebo effects on itch: a meta-analysis of clinical trials of patients with dermatological conditions.The Journal of investigative dermatology · 2015Pooled it
- Can Nocebo Effects Be Reduced via Open- and Closed-Label Counterconditioning?European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Trial
- Shaping Treatment Expectation to Optimize Efficacy of Interleukin 17A Antagonist Secukinumab in Psoriasis Patients.Psoriasis (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Trial
- Placebo Effects Are Small on Average in the 7.5% CO2 Inhalational Model of Generalized Anxiety.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- Increasing the Effectiveness of a Physical Activity Smartphone Intervention With Positive Suggestions: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Trial
- Temporal structure of brain oscillations predicts learned nocebo responses to pain.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Nocebo Effects on Cowhage-evoked Itch: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Classical Conditioning and Observational Learning.Acta dermato-venereologica · 2021Trial
- Learning mechanisms in nocebo hyperalgesia: the role of conditioning and extinction processes.Pain · 2020Trial
- Enhancing Placebo Effects in Somatic Symptoms Through Oxytocin.Psychosomatic medicine · 2018Trial
- The effects of a gamified approach avoidance training and verbal suggestions on food outcomes.PloS one · 2018Trial
- Minimizing nocebo effects by conditioning with verbal suggestion: A randomized clinical trial in healthy humans.PloS one · 2017Trial
- The role of outcome expectancies for a training program consisting of meditation, breathing exercises, and cold exposure on the response to endotoxin administration: a proof-of-principle study.Clinical rheumatology · 2016Trial
- Inverted Perceptual Judgment of Nociceptive Stimuli at Threshold Level following Inconsistent Cues.PloS one · 2015Trial
- Trial
- Antipruritic Placebo Effects by Conditioning H1-antihistamine.Psychosomatic medicineTrial
- Effects of Oxytocin on Placebo and Nocebo Effects in a Pain Conditioning Paradigm: A Randomized Controlled Trial.The journal of painTrial
- Effects of likelihood framing on side effect expectations and nocebo side effects: Results from three experimental studies with a placebo analgesic cream.British journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- Through Massage to the Brain-Neuronal and Neuroplastic Mechanisms of Massage Based on Various Neuroimaging Techniques (EEG, fMRI, and fNIRS).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- The Placebo Effect in Psychosis: Why It Matters and How to Measure It.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Placebo and nocebo effects are known to play a key role in treatment effects in a wide variety of conditions. These effects have frequently been investigated with regard to pain and also in other physical sensations, but have hardly been investigated with regard to itch. In addition, neither in pain nor in any other physical sensation, the single and combined contribution of the expectancy mechanisms of conditioning and verbal suggestion have ever been investigated in both placebo and nocebo effects within one design. For the first time, the role of verbal suggestion and conditioning in placebo and nocebo effects on itch was experimentally investigated. Expectations about itch stimuli were induced in healthy subjects by verbal suggestion, conditioning, or a combination of both procedures, and compared with a control group without expectation induction. Itch was induced electrically by means of quantitative sensory testing. Significant placebo and nocebo effects were induced in the group in which combined procedures of conditioning and verbal suggestion were applied in comparison with the control group. The conditioning and verbal suggestion procedures applied individually did not induce significant placebo and nocebo effects when compared with the control group. The results of this study extend existing evidence on different physical sensations, like pain, by showing that also for itch, the combination of conditioning and verbal suggestion is most promising in inducing both placebo and nocebo effects. More research on placebo and nocebo effects at a perceptive and neurobiological level is warranted to further elucidate the common and specific mechanisms underlying placebo and nocebo effects on itch and other physical sensations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.