ReviewTrends in cognitive sciences2021
A social affective neuroscience lens on placebo analgesia.
Review in Trends in cognitive sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 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
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analytic evidence for distinct neural correlates of conditioned versus verbally induced placebo analgesia.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
- Placebo and nocebo effects and mechanisms associated with pharmacological interventions: an umbrella review.BMJ open · 2023Pooled it
- Domain-General Neural Effects of Associative Learning and Expectations on Pain and Hedonic Taste Perception.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Trial
- Shared effects of the opioid antagonist naltrexone on first-hand and empathic pain.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Trial
- Advancing the Prediction and Understanding of Placebo Responses in Chronic Back Pain Using Large Language Models.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Article
- Isolating Brain Mechanisms of Expectancy Effects on Pain: Cue-Based Stimulus Expectancies versus Placebo-Based Treatment Expectancies.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Combining mindfulness intervention and open-label placebo treatment for chronic pain: a protocol for a feasibility study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Neuropsychological mechanisms of observational learning in human placebo effects.Psychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Reverse-engineering placebo analgesia.Current biology : CB · 2024Article
- Updating beliefs about pain following advice: Trustworthiness of social advice predicts pain expectations and experience.Cognition · 2024Article
- Neurocircuitry basis of motor cortex-related analgesia as an emerging approach for chronic pain management.Nature. Mental health · 2024Article
- Towards a Real-Life Understanding of the Altered Functional Behaviour of the Default Mode and Salience Network in Chronic Pain: Are People with Chronic Pain Overthinking the Meaning of Their Pain?Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Interdisciplinary pain program participants with high catastrophizing scores improve function utilizing enriched therapeutic encounters and integrative health techniques: a retrospective study.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Ethical considerations in rapid and novel treatments in psychiatry.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Review
- Human ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions enhance the effect of expectations on pain perception.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2023Article
- Yoga and massage are associated with small experimental placebo effects in chronic orofacial pain.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2023Article
- How Instructions, Learning, and Expectations Shape Pain and Neurobiological Responses.Annual review of neuroscience · 2023Review
- SIO-ASCO guideline on integrative medicine for cancer pain management: implications for racial and ethnic pain disparities.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2023Article
- Stratification of spine patients based on self-reported clinical symptom classes: Evaluation of long-term outcomes and subsequent interventions.North American Spine Society journal · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Pain is a fundamental experience that promotes survival. In humans, pain stands at the intersection of multiple health crises: chronic pain, the opioid epidemic, and health disparities. The study of placebo analgesia highlights how social, cognitive, and affective processes can directly shape pain, and identifies potential paths for mitigating these crises. This review examines recent progress in the study of placebo analgesia through affective science. It focuses on how placebo effects are shaped by expectations, affect, and the social context surrounding treatment, and discusses neurobiological mechanisms of placebo, highlighting unanswered questions and implications for health. Collaborations between clinicians and social and affective scientists can address outstanding questions and leverage placebo to reduce pain and improve human health.
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.