Trial reportScientific reports2019
Neural and behavioral changes driven by observationally-induced hypoalgesia.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Learning by observing: a systematic exploration of modulatory factors and the impact of observationally induced placebo and nocebo effects on treatment outcomes.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Effects of early life adversity on socially learned analgesia and empathy in virtual reality.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Mapping the Digital Mind: A Meta-Analysis of EEG Biomarkers in Cognition, Emotion, and Mental Health.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Context-dependent placebo hypoalgesia through observational learning: the role of empathy in immersive and non-immersive environments.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Effects of childhood adversity on socially learned placebo analgesia in virtual reality: A cross-sectional study.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Neuropsychological mechanisms of observational learning in human placebo effects.Psychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Placebo and nocebo effect in pain.Handbook of clinical neurology · 2025Review
- Interpersonal physiological and psychological synchrony predict the social transmission of nocebo hyperalgesia between individuals.Communications psychology · 2024Article
- [Seeing others is believing-analgesic placebo effects through observational learning?]Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2022Review
- Analytic consistency and neural correlates of peak alpha frequency in the study of pain.Journal of neuroscience methods · 2022Review
- Cerebral perfusion alterations in patients with trigeminal neuralgia as measured by pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- When one suffers less, all suffer less: Individual pain ratings are more effective than group ratings in producing placebo hypoalgesia.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2022Article
- Cerebral peak alpha frequency: Associations with chronic pain onset and pain modulation.Neurobiology of pain (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
- The effect of depression on the peak alpha frequency as a biomarker of pain sensitivity.Neurobiology of pain (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Observing successful pain treatment in others can induce anticipatory neural processes that, in turn, relieve pain. Previous studies have suggested that social learning and observation influence placebo hypoalgesia. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to determine the neurophysiological changes associated with pain relief acquired through the observation. Thirty-one participants observed a demonstrator undergo painful heat stimulations paired with a "control" cream and non-painful ones paired with a "treatment" cream, which actually were both Vanicreams. After their observation, the participants then received the same creams and stimulations. We found that the treatment cream led to lower self-reported pain intensity ratings than the control cream. Anticipatory treatment cues elicited smaller P2 in electrodes F1, Fz, FC1, and FCz than the control condition. The P2 component localization indicated a higher current density in the right middle frontal gyrus, a region associated with attentional engagement. In placebo responders, the sensorimotor cortex activity captured in electrodes C3, Cz, and C4 indicated that hypoalgesia was positively correlated with resting state peak alpha frequency (PAF). These results suggest that observationally-induced placebo hypoalgesia may be driven by anticipatory mechanisms that modulate frontal attentional processes. Furthermore, resting state PAF could serve as a predictor of observationally-induced hypoalgesia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.